


Alone

by Icemermaid



Series: Part 1 of Alone Trilogy [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bill is a manipulative psychopath, Dark, Father son relationship, Gen, Isolation, Manipulation, Murder, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-17
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-14 09:45:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 20
Words: 41,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5738977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Icemermaid/pseuds/Icemermaid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summer was over and it was time to go back to the way things were; but what happens when some one follows Dipper home?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first Gravity Falls fanfic I wrote a while back; and here's the first chapter. Hope you guys enjoy  
> I own nothing.

Chapter 1

Dipper Pines looked outside the window of his bedroom to see the final rays of the sun start to disappear behind the houses.

Summer vacation had finally come to a close, and the young boy and his twin sister Mabel had finally returned home from the summer long visit to Gravity Falls.

While everything had finally seemed to return to normal, Dipper still couldn't help but admit that something seemed to be missing. Maybe it was the fact that after all the things he went through this summer made a lot harder to go back to his old quiet life; or maybe it could have been that he felt home sick.

But how could he be home sick from Gravity falls? The place had so many demented secrets, it drove the now thirteen year old crazy. Even then however, Gravity Falls felt like where he had Mabel truly belonged.

It sounded crazy, but Dipper had seen some pretty amazing things, even if they could be dangerous. Not only that, he also made some great friends back there. Soos had always been there to help him whenever he needed him; and the two always had time to get themselves into trouble.

Then there was Wendy; the teenage girl that Dipper couldn't get out of his head, even now. She was one person Dipper seemed to miss the most. Even though he knew she was still to old for him, he still missed spending as much time as he could with her while trying to keep Robbie away from her. Now it was just a summer memory.

Dipper shrugged it off when he heard yelling coming from downstairs. He slowly opened the creaked open the door to hear the sounds of their mother screaming and Mabel crying.

When they left Gravity Falls, Mabel couldn't bare to leave her pet pig, Waddles, behind; so she decided to bring him home with her. Unfortunately their mother was less then thrilled with Mabel's new pet and the two had engaged into had gotten into a heated debate about the pig; and knowing how cheerful Mabel usually was, Dipper knew that if she had give Waddles up, she was going to be devastated.

The Pine twin decided to close his door as it really was tugging at him to have to listen his sister's pain.

He walked over to the backpack on his desk to pull out the fateful journal that he had discovered at very beginning of summer.

Dipper never really thought about why he even kept it in the first place; but he remembered asking Stan if he could take it with him. Surprisingly Stan had told him that he could take it; but on one condition: he had to promise that he wouldn't tamper with any of the supernatural outside Gravity falls.

"That journal has too many secrets that shouldn't be shared or seen. You've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble this summer Dipper; so promise that you won't do any of this back home." Stan had told him.

"I promise I won't, Grunkle Stan..." He had sighed.

But why didn't it feel like anything had been solved?

"Everything you know will change..." A voice seemed to echo in his mind.

Dipper could recognize that voice almost instantly as he looked down at his arms. The scars that he had received from Bill when the dream demon had taken over his body. The day he had lost control.

A part of him had to wonder, had Bill been right all along? Was he really gone for good; did everything really change?

He felt himself being taken out of his thoughts again when he heard a slight commotion outside.

Dipper ran to the window to see some large truck outside that had a rather large cage. He looked even closer to see Mabel kneeling down on the sidewalk and appeared to be hugging Waddles as tightly as she could. That's when Dipper knew that Waddles was leaving and he could feel a few tears of his own starting to form.

After about five minutes, a man dressed in overalls grabbed the pig and put in the cage. The twins mother seemed to say a few things to the man while Mabel just stood there looking defeated. The man nodded before getting into the truck and driving away.

"Maybe everything did change..." Dipper thought, sadly.

Dipper went to open his door to see Mabel climbing sulk up the stairs; her usual cheerful face was now stained with tears.

"Mabel..." Dipper tried to say.

But Mabel shook her head sadly before going into her room and quietly shutting the door.

Dipper went downstairs to see his parents in the tv room.

"Mom... Why...?" He asked.

"Dipper can we talk later please? Your father and I had a rough day." His mother simply stated.

"But Mom..." He protested.

"Dipper go upstairs!" His father ordered.

"But I want to talk now! Why did you force Mabel to give Waddles away?! He meant so much to her!"

"Pigs are for eating, not as pets!" His mother scoffed. "I can't even believe Stan let her keep that thing! I'm starting to think that sending you to Gravity Falls was a mistake!"

Dipper was about to retort, but he knew what would happen; he would try to tell his parents how he felt before his mother would claim that he didn't respect her and would cry. Then his father would scream at him until he would start crying.

The boy only sighed before he went to hug his mother.

"I'm sorry..." He said, quietly.

His mother only returned the hug half heartedly before pulling away.

"Please go upstairs and get ready for school tomorrow. I promise we'll talk then."

Dipper nodded before wishing his parents goodnight and walking back to his room.

He walked passed Mabel's door to see that it was cracked open. He looked through the crack to see his sister lying on her bed hugging one of her stuffed animals.

She was completely silent, but Dipper could see her eyes were completely glassy from crying.

"Waddles..." He thought he heard her barely whisper. It almost reminded him of when he had used Blendin's time traveling gadget to make his day at the Fair with Wendy perfect. Because he altered to the event, Mabel had lost Waddles to Pacifica and the result had really gotten deep to her; so Dipper made things right so his sister could be happy.

But now it seemed that Mabel wasn't destined to keep Waddles after all.

Dipper was tempted to go comfort his sister when he saw that it looked like she just wanted to sulk by herself.

The boy walked back into his room when he walked to the wall adjacent to Mabel's room.

He slowly sat down as he gently knocked on the wall.

To his surprise, Mabel answered back and knocked on the wall. He could even hear a couple small sobs escape her throat.

Dipper knocked again to let her knew he was still there.

His sister knocked back quietly.

Dipper knew for sure then that he really was homesick for Gravity Falls and everything that lived there.

Mabel knocked on the wall one more time.

Dipper smiled sadly as he stood up.

"Mystery twins...?" He asked, sadly.

There was silence for a minutes.

"Mystery twins..." Came a quiet response.

Dipper turned his head back towards the journal on the desk.

Bill was right, everything had changed.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"DIPPER! MABEL! WAKE UP AND GET READY FOR SCHOOL!" The sound of the twins mother could be heard ringing through their tired ears.

Dipper groggily opened his eyes when he winced at the early morning light that was coming through his window.

A huge part of him was tempted to roll over and go back to sleep but the thought of his mother badgering for the next fifteen twenty minutes wouldn't have been worth it.

With a sigh, Dipper pulled himself out of bed and trudged over to the bathroom to see that Mabel was already in there brushing her teeth. Her eyes were still bloodshot from yesterday and the she only wore a plain dark blue sweater instead of her novelty ones.

The boy moved to the sink and began to wash his face.

"Are you okay?" He asked, gently.

Mabel tried to smile, but looked like she was going to burst into tears again.

"I'll be fine... I just have to accept it..."

"Hey Mabel?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you feel homesick for Gravity Falls?"

Mabel stared at her reflection.

"I miss Gravity Falls more then I thought I would."

"I feel the same way; actually I thought Mystery Shack was more of our home then here."

"Dipper..." Mabel said looking rather surprised by her brother's statement.

"I mean we went through so many things together this summer, and I think this was the best summer I ever had."

"I know what you mean Dipper, but it's over."

Dipper lowered his head; he didn't want to go back to being the shy quiet boy that he was here. He wanted to be the boy that could do anything if he set his mind to it.

"But if you could go back to Gravity Falls, would you?" He asked Mabel.

Mabel just stood there just wanting to end the conversation. She understood exactly how her brother felt, but dwelling on everything that came to pass was just going to make them feel more homesick then they already did.

"I... I... I have to finish getting ready for school." Was all she said before she walked out of the bathroom.

Dipper sighed deeply as he finished getting ready for school.

Once finished, He walked down the stairs to see his mother was just finishing breakfast for the twins.

"Good morning, my sunshine!" His mother said beaming.

Dipper only nodded. He constantly had asked her if he would start treating him more like an adult, only it seemed to be falling on deaf ears.

"I made you some French toast."

"Mom... I've told you a thousand times that I don't like French toast. I like pancakes..."

"So you don't appreciate the fact that I got up a little early so I could make a nice breakfast for you and Mabel?" She demanded, looking rather offended.

Dipper felt guilt consume him almost immediately.

"I'm sorry... I just... Give me a nice big plate!" He said, defeated.

His mother instantly grinned and placed a big helping for him on the kitchen counter. Sitting down, he tried to eat the meal without gagging or upsetting his mother again.

It wasn't long before Mabel joined them at the counter, still looking forlorn.

"Are you going to continue to feel sorry for yourself?" Her mother asked as she placed a plate in front of her.

Mabel said nothing.

Her mother sighed as she turned back to the stove.

"Hey Mabel? I think I know what will cheer you up. I was thinking that we can tell everyone at school about all the adventures we had this summer."

"I don't know Dipper... People will think we're making this up."

"Come on... I have all the proof we need." Dipper went into his backpack. "I just have to..." But he stopped himself when he noticed the journal was missing.

"The journal it's gone! What happened to my journal?!" He cried.

"You mean that decrepit looking book that was on your desk?" His mother asked, her back still turned.

"Yes! Did you see it?!"

"I threw it out."

Dipper's eyes went wide with horror.

"YOU WHAT!?" He cried, looking like he was going to cry. "WHY WOULD YOU...?!" He was cut off when he heard the school bus honking outside.

"We'll talk about this later." His mother sighed before kissing both on the forehead.

Dipper was about to protest when Mabel grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door.

"How could she throw away the journal?!" Was all he could say as he got on the bus.

"You know how she is; she sees something that she feels is junk and just throws it away. Just like Waddles." She sighed.

"She could've asked me first! I wanted to see if we left any lose ends."

"You still think there's something that still needs to be discovered? Come on Dipper; can't you just let it lie?" Mabel asked rather irritatingly.

"Aren't you curious?" Dipper asked.

"It was fun while it lasted, bro bro, but I just want to move on and focus on new things... Okay...?"

The boy stared at her before he sighed.

"Fine..."

The rest of the ride to school was pretty uneventful and won't belong to bus pulled up to the school. It would only be a matter of minutes before junior high would begin.

"All right everyone off the bus!" The bus driver ordered.

Dipper said goodbye to the bus driver as he slowly got off and walked toward the school. His mind was racing a mile a minute. What if people continued to give a rough time like they did in middle school? He shook his head at the thought, he would stand tall and proudly proclaim about all the adventures he had in Gravity Falls. Plus he could how became friends with Wendy.

Feeling a bit more confident, the pine boy walked inside the building towards the line the tables where new students could there class schedules and locks for their lockers.

Dipper walked up to the woman.

"Pines..." He said, politely.

"The old woman smiled thoughtfully, as she handed him his things.

"Welcome to Redwood Junior High, dear!" She said kindly.

"Thank you."

Dipper walked off to find his locker. So far everything was going great until he felt someone violently shove him to the ground.

He looked up to see three of the more popular boys standing above him.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Little Dipper." The first boy laughed.

"Nice to see to, Frankie..." Dipper replied sarcastically.

"So what happened to you this summer? You go and hide under your bed the whole time?" The other boys started laughing.

"I was actually visiting my great uncle with my sister up in Oregon." Dipper replied.

"Man even you're parents we're happy to get rid of you this summer." Frankie chuckled.

"For your information our parents wanted us to have a change of scenery; and I happen to make a lot of friends this summer!"

"Really...?" The second boy said not believing him at all.

"Yes really! I even... AH...AH...achooo" Dipper was cut off when he did his little kitten sneeze.

The boys continued to laugh cruelly before walking away.

Feeling his first wave of defeat Dipper sulked to his locker and gather all of his books for his first class. He needed to prove that he wasn't a quiet little doormat anymore or else the cycle would just begin all over. He looked over his shoulder to see that Mabel had reunited with her group of friends and was off in her own little world.

Dipper knew that if he was going to get anyone to believe any of his stories or discoveries that he was going to need Mabel to back him up on it. If she would back up any of his discoveries, then everything would be in his favor.

"But whose going to believe you?" A voice seemed to laugh inside his head.

Dipper felt his blood freeze.

It couldn't have been... Could it...?

His eyes darted everywhere around to see if anything was out of place; which was when the dull yellow halls around and seemed to fade to grey and all of the kids around him seemed to disappear.

"It's impossible... How..." Dipper thought aloud.

As if his mind had been read, the troublesome dream demon, Bill Cipher, was floating just above him.

Only this time, he looked different.

The Bill that was standing in front of him was human with wild blonde hair with some sort of black eye patch covering his right eye. He was also dressed in some sort of yellow jacket that reveal a white shirt and his black bowtie along with some black skinny pants and boots to match.

Dipper could only stand there in shock.

"Surprised to see me, Pine Tree?" Bill asked, grinning widely. "How do you like my new form?"

"This can't be happening; you're supposed to be gone for good! We stopped you!" Dipper cried.

Bill only laughed.

"That's what's so great about being a dream demon. You can warp things to make it look like you managed to defeat me, but I was able to escape at the last minute."

"Regardless... What are you doing here?! Why did you follow me home?!" Dipper demanded.

"Oh come on, Pine tree; is that all you have to say to me after I decided to surprise you?" Bill mockingly pouted.

"Whatever the reason is that you're here isn't going to help you. I know any kind of trick you pulled and I'll just have to get rid of you."

"Oh! And how are you going to do that without your journal?" The demon asked, smugly.

"Wait... How did you know about that?" Dipper asked, carefully.

"Like I've been saying kid, I've been watching you; and I've to say, your home life seems a lot shitter then I thought it would be."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on kid, I know you want to show those kids that you're tough; and I can help you."

Dipper took a step back in horror. He could almost see the horrific scenes of when Bill had taken possession of his body and had caused a great deal of problem. All while mutilating his body along the way because he thought it was hilarious.

"Not this time, Bill!" He growled.

The demon floated down in front, grinning in a rather psychotic matter.

"Whatever you say; but just know that I'll always be here for you."

"For a price!"

"It's your choice, Pine Tree; but I really doubt that you'll be successful on your own."

"That's what you think..."

Bill only grinned tipping his hat slightly.

The world around him returned to normal just the final bell rang. Dipper felt his entire body jerk when he realized that he was already late for class.

He ran as quickly as he could to his first class vowing that he was going to prove the manic demon wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hang on everyone this is going to start getting dark very quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Dipper ran at full force into the classroom that when he tried to stop himself, he fell to the ground, just managing to shield his face with his hands.

All of the kids in the class laughed at his tumble, leaving him to blush a dark shade of red.

Dipper gathered his things as he saw his homeroom teacher standing just above him.

"Young man, you are late..." The teacher said, giving a rather a judgmental look.

"I'm sorry sir. I just got lost trying to find the room." Dipper lied, not wanting to mention his altercation with Bill.

The teacher sighed as he shook his head.

"You should have better prepared yourself, as I do not find tardiness acceptable at all. However since it is the first day, I will let you off the hook; but if your late again tomorrow, then I will take action."

"I promise it won't..."

"Just take your seat!" The teacher ordered, harshly.

The kids continued to laugh and jeer as Dipper sulked his way to the back of the classroom before taking his seat.

"Now class, before we rudely interrupted, I was just about to pass out the syllabus for this semester. Everyone please take one and pass it back."

The teacher continued to go on and on as Dipper stared out the window of the classroom.

Sure everything seemed to be the way it should be; but why did it feel something was still lingering in the shadows? How did Bill manage to follow him all the way back here; and what could he possibly want from him? All these questions burning into his head made him upset that his mother carelessly got rid of the journal; without it he couldn't find anything in the journal that he might have missed. Which could possibly cause trouble for him in the long run.

Dipper turned his head back towards the board to see his teacher was just wrapping up about the syllabus.

"Now class open your books to page 12."

Dipper opened the book as he continued to try and listen to his teacher's lecture; but every time he tried to listen, he felt his mind start to wonder away. He knew that everything that he saw this summer was real; and he didn't want any of that to fade from his mind. Only he wouldn't have the closure unless he could tell everyone what happened, that would prove the truth and it would prove that he wasn't a wimp or anyone's punching bag.

Dipper wasn't worried about back, because Mabel had been by his side during the summer and had seen just as many interesting things as he did. All he would need from her was just her word that she had seen just as many things as he did, and then everything would be in his favor. Or so he hoped.

The pine boy was officially taken out of his thoughts when he heard the bell ring.

"Remember read chapters 1 and 2 and answer the questions at the end each chapter for tomorrow." The teacher said as the kids began to gather their things and walk to their next class.

Dipper was just about to walk out when his teacher came up to him.

"I trust that you will not interrupt my class again." He ordered.

"I won't..." Dipper said, his voice rather tiny.

"You had better... Now get out of here."

"Way to make a first impression, Pine Tree!" Bill's voice seemed to echo in his mind.

Dipper didn't say a word as he walked to his next class.

The rest of the morning seemed to uneventful; Dipper would go to each of his classes and just listen to each of his teachers just talk and talk. The boy would try to pay attention to the best of his ability, but always felt himself drifting off somewhere. Not only that, he also had this unnerving feeling that Bill was watching him everywhere he went. He really felt this when he was in science class and they were beginning to discuss the insides of the human body. It felt like there was sinister wind around him. Almost as if Bill was getting manically excited about talking about human organs and was having fantasies about mutilating someone and playing with their organs.

Dipper shivered at the mere thought.

However the boy could finally breathe a huge sigh of relief; as it was finally time for lunch.

He walked to the cafeteria with hopes that he would see Mabel there; and that he could finally talk about his adventures.

Dipper looked around the room for a good five minutes to see if he could find any trace of his twin, but he couldn't find her anywhere.

Now he was really starting to get starting nervous; if Mabel wasn't in any of the classes he was in, then the he was going to have harder time backing his claims.

He needed to have at least one class with her and there were only two more classes left before the school day was over.

"Looks like the odds aren't in your favor, kid. I can help you..."

"GO AWAY!" Dipper silently screamed.

He shifted his head to see any trace of Bill, but everything seemed clear.

The boy sighed as he finally got in line for lunch.

Lunch for him wasn't entirely special as he only picked out a sandwich a piece of fruit and a bag of chips.

After paying for his meal, he walked out to the tables deciding where he would sit.

Normally he would have sat with Mabel and her friends, but since he saw no sign of her, he decided he was safer just eating by himself.

Sitting at the small table, Dipper quietly began to nibbles on his lunch while waiting for the bell to ring.

Sadly he didn't get halfway through his lunch when Frankie and his friends knocked it off the table and stomped on it until it inedible.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Dipper demanded.

"Oh I'm sorry about that... Let me help you..." Frankie and his friends began to laugh as they squirted Dipper with their milk cartons, leaving him a sticky mess.

"You guys aren't going to be able to pick on me much longer!" He growled in defense.

"Oh... and why is that?" Frankie asked, amused.

"Because I have some important things I want to mention that will prove that I am just as cool as you guys are."

"Yeah... Like what?" Asked one of the other boys.

Dipper was about to tell them everything when he realized he still needed Mabel.

"I can't tell you because I need my sister as proof and my witness. Hopefully I can tell you guys the next time I see her."

Frankie smiled smugly.

"Well Little Dipper, I have gym class with Mabel right after lunch."

Dipper beamed at this as he also had gym class after lunch. It was the perfect timing.

"Yes I do." He smiled.

"All right then, next class, tell us about these so called cool things." Frankie said.

The three boys walked away.

The bell finally rang as Dipper ran to the gymnasium.

The first day was just the day that they would get their gym uniforms and a basic step up of the class before they had free time, but regardless Dipper was fully excited that he could finally talk about his adventures in Gravity Falls.

His heart leapt with joy when he saw Mabel walk into the gymnasium with two of her friends.

"Everything's is starting to go my way." He smiled.

"Well Little Dipper..." Frankie's voice could be heard from behind. "What are these things you wanted to tell us?"

Suddenly all of the kids in the gym turned towards him.

Dipper felt so nervous, but the time had finally come, but it would all be worth it.

"Well my fellow classmates, as you guys know, I was missing all summer."

"Probably hiding in your room..." Several kids snickered.

Dipper turned red as he glared but continued.

"For your information, my sister and I went to a town in Oregon called Gravity Falls to visit our great uncle."

"What's your point?" A girl asked, irritated.

"Well while we there, I discovered this journal with all these hidden details about the town; and through the journal I discovered all these bizarre and amazing creatures that everyone would believe to be myths. Heck Mabel and I even time traveled."

All of the kids just stared.

"You're serious..." One kid asked, clearly not believing him.

Dipper felt his smile flatten slightly.

"Yes I'm serious! All of this stuff happened while I was there and that journal told me all about the secrets of the town. I swear to God I'm not lying!"

"Well where's this so called journal that you found."

Dipper felt his blood freeze.

"Ummm..." He became more and more nervous as felt sweat forming on his forehead. "My mom threw it... out...?"

The kids started to snicker again.

"You're so pathetic." Frankie laughed.

Dipper glared harshly at the bully.

"It's true! I saw gnomes! Cursed wax figures! Hell a demon took possession of my body and mutilated me! Look!" Dipper showed them the scars that he had received, thanks to Bill.

"Looks like scratches to me..."

Dipper fumed at this.

"I'm telling you the truth...! Fine if you don't believe me, then Mabel will tell you!"

Everyone turned towards her.

"Is this true Mabel?" Her one friend asked.

Mabel only sat there not saying a word.

"Come on Mabel... Remember how you were almost abducted by the gnomes when they were looking for a new queen? Remember how we caused all of those time anomalies so I could have a perfect day at the fair with Wendy; and do I need to remind you how helped Mermando escape the pool so he could get back to the ocean because you cared about him?"

"Well Mabel?" Frankie asked, tauntingly.

Mabel looked at the kids standing in front of her then she looked at her brother, who looked like he was about to burst into tears. Yes it was true, but no one would ever believe them regardless of what she said. Besides she just wanted to move one with life, the summer was great, but it wasn't meant to last; not when her mother had to take Waddles away from her.

The only thing the pine sister could do was sit there silently.

"Do you have anything to say Mabel?" Frankie asked again.

She continued to stay silent.

Dipper swore he could hear the sound of glass shattering; which is when he realized that it was the sound of his heart breaking. When he had needed her the most, Mabel had sat there and did nothing. The one person he really had in the world had betrayed him.

"But... but.. but..." Was all he could muster, he felt completely defeated.

"Wow Dipper, you really are a freak." Frankie laughed. "I always knew you had a childish imagination, but this proves how much of a loser you really are. Even your own sister just proved that to you."

All of the other kids started laughing.

Dipper pulled his hat over his eyes to hide away.

The rest of the period felt like an eternity. It was all over and nothing had changed except that he was even more of a freak than he was before the summer began.

The class had broken out for the remaining free time playing basketball and talking to each other.

Dipper remained in the corner, feeling so empty. Everything he came to be this summer was gone.

"Aww... Is Little Dipper gonna cry?!" Frankie and his friends left as they noticed him.

Dipper then realized that his eyes were watering up and burning.

He turned his quickly, and without warning, bolted from the gymnasium.

He ran as far as could before found himself outside on the football field. He wanted to find a place to be alone.

He looked a little bit away to see a little opening underneath the bleachers.

Dipper ran underneath and buried himself as far back as he could go; not caring if he missed his last class.

Satisfied that he was completely alone, Dipper sat on the ground. He felt the tears starting to spill from his eyes, as he felt so helpless and alone. Homesickness enveloped him as he thought about Gravity Falls even more. Grunkle Stan, Soos, Wendy and her friends, Waddles, hell even Old Man Macguket were now just cold distant memories. Memories that would only fade away over time until Dipper could barely recall them.

He tried, he tried so hard to prove to everyone that he could do something right, but it didn't mean anything. Not with his journal gone, not when Mabel had just sat there.

Dipper never felt more lonely than he did at that moment. Everyone was distant; from the kids at school, down to his own parents, and now Mabel had join them as well.

That's when Dipper felt a gloved hand running through his hair.

The boy felt his body jump, thinking that the kids wanted to torment him so more; but that's when he realized, Bill had seen everything.

"Poor little Pine tree..." Bill seemed to say, his voice unnervingly soothing.

Dipper turned his head to see he was back in the back in the dreamscape with Bill sitting next to him.

"Go away..." Dipper cried in a rather pathetic voice.

Bill only smiled.

"I only came here to show some sympathy, it looks like you need it."

"I don't want your sympathy, nor do I need it. I'm perfectly fine..." Dipper lied, just wanting to be left alone.

"Which is why you came running out here after all the kids scorned you? After even your own sister turned her back on you; after everything you've done for her?"

Dipper was about to retort when he realized that the demon was right.

The boy only responded by burying his face into his knees and starting sobbing. Not caring if the dream demon was watching him or not.

Before Dipper had a chance to realize it, he felt Bill pull him to closer to him.

Dipper would was tempted to slap the demon away, but the desire for comfort was so high that the boy just went limp as the older looking human held him like a parent would hold their child who was in distress.

"There, there... Don't cry little Pine tree..." The demon said soothingly as he continued to stroke the boy's hair."

Dipper didn't know if he should feel a little comfort or disturbed as it was Bill that was doing this.

Not knowing what else to do, Dipper continued to lay in Bill's arms as he cried.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Dipper didn't realize how long he had been hiding under the bleachers when he slowly crawled out to meet the late afternoon sun.

From the looks of things, it looked like school ended a little over an hour ago and he had missed the bus.

Which meant the Pine twin was going to be walking home from school.

Dipper dried any tears he had left and grabbing the things that he had, started his walk of shame home.

"What was I thinking that they were going to believe me; I mean it took me forever to prove a ton of things back in Gravity falls and that place was strange. Piedmont however, is a normal town and nothing happens here. Now all I am to them is just even more of a freak than I already was." He thought, sadly.

His mind drifted back to the incident at the gym. The incident that put a damaging distance between him and Mabel; everything was different.

"Mabel... why...? You're supposed to be my sister and my friend. Now you just feel like a stranger to me. What went wrong?" He kept thinking.

After a good twenty minutes of walking, Dipper finally was walking up the driveway to his house.

"At least I'm home now." He thought.

He walked inside to see his mother humming happily in the kitchen as she was preparing dinner.

"Hi sweetie pie; how was school?" She beamed, completely oblivious to her son's bloodshot eyes.

"I had a really bad day at school." He said, sadly.

"What happened?" She asked, although Dipper had a feeling his mother was only half listening as she was still humming away to the radio.

"Well all the kids were picking on me today when I tried to tell them about my adventures this summer; and then I..."

"That's nice honey..." His mother interrupted. "Can you go to the fridge in the garage and get me some of that cooking wine?"

"But Mom... You're not listening to what I have to..."

His mother stopped humming as she turned to give him a sharp stare.

"Is what I'm asking you to difficult for you?" She asked in a voice that Dipper knew was going to get him in trouble.

"No... I... I'm sorry Mom. I'll go get right now."

Dipper ran to the garage as he got his mother's cooking wine and quickly ran back to her.

"Thank you, sweetie!" She said with her face returning to it's beam.

Dipper sat at the counter as his mother went back to stove. He really wanted her sympathy even if it was only for five minutes. A part of him was wondering if he should put on the childlike approach, it always seemed to win her over when he was little; but would it work now? He hadn't done that in over four years; but he needed now more than ever, and desperation was running deep within.

"Mommy...?" He whimpered as felt his eyes start to water again. "Mommy...?"

To his surprise his mother turned around.

"What it is it honey?" She asked rather surprised.

"Did you hear a word I said to you before you asked me to get the cooking wine from the garage?" Dipper asked, trying to keep back his tears.

"Umm... something about a project...? I'm sorry what do you say?" His mother asked, scratching her head.

"Do you ever listen to a thing a I say?!" The boy yelled, hurt by his mother oblivious attitude.

His mother glared.

"What's the matter with you?!" She growled.

"What's the matter... WHAT'S THE MATTER?! YOU'RE WHAT'S THE MATTER! YOU NEVER LISTEN TO A WORD I SAY! ALL I WANT IS FOR YOU TO JUST LISTENT TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY FOR FIVE MINUTES! IS THAT TO MUCH TO ASK...!?"

Dipper was cut off when he felt his mother's hand slap him across the face, causing him to fall backwards from shock.

He looked up at her as if he didn't know who she was. His mother had never hit him before.

"Go to your room." She said, calmly.

Dipper felt tears starting to fall from his eyes.

"Mom... I'm..."

"Go to your room! We'll talk about this when your father gets home; and wash up for dinner while you're up there!" His mother ordered, raising her voice slightly.

Dipper immediately ran up the stairs not wanting to anger her anymore. He knew he was going to be in even more trouble when she told his father about his outburst, but he decided to worry about that later.

At the top of the stairs Dipper saw that the door to Mabel's room was open. He felt anger and betrayal flush through as he thought about his sister's heart breaking silence in the gym.

She was his only to prove that his adventures were real, and she completely abandoned him.

He walked to her room to demand an answer.

Peeking inside he saw Mabel was lying on her bed, talking to one of her friends on the phone. She seemed to be back to her old self at the moment, until her eyes rested on her brother.

Dipper found his expression to be blank.

"Can you hang on for a second?" She asked to whoever was on the phone.

Mabel jumped off the bed and walked towards the door.

Dipper was about to open his mouth to say something when Mabel slammed the door on him before he could the sound of locking on the other side.

He just stood there. Mabel was the one to hurt him; and she was the one who was mad?

Dipper timidly knocked on the door.

"Mabel... Can we talk please?" He asked.

His sister didn't even answer.

Dipper was tempted to knock again when he realized he was going to get an answer from her.

"Whatever!" He cried as walked back to his room.

He opened the door to his room to Bill was sitting on his desk and appeared to be going through some photo album.

"I never thought it would be possible, but you were such an adorable baby, Pine Tree." The dream demon beamed as he showed a picture of the boy from when it appeared to the day his parents brought him and Mabel home from the hospital.

"What are you doing in my room?" Dipper asked, wanting to sulk alone.

"You never told me that you had a hot mom! I mean I saw her when you were downstairs with her and I mean... WOW!" The demon laughed.

The Pine twin cringed at the comment.

"It's a shame that she's a cold woman. Not listening to you when you need her the most. Sad really." 

"What do you want from me now?" Dipper demanded.

Bill whipped his hair back slightly before speaking again.

"I know you're in pain, Pine Tree; and like I said before I can help you."

"I don't need your help. I can deal with this by myself."

"But you don't have Mabel to talk to."

Dipper stared into Bill's eye.

"What do you mean?"

"Look kid, you saw what Shooting Star did to you at school earlier today; and then she had the nerve to slam the door in your face after she was the one that was in the wrong. Seems to me that the only friend that you have left is gone." Bill explained as he showed a picture of the twins when they were learning how to ice skate and burned the photo with his blue fire.

Dipper turned his head away as he felt tears starting to well up in his eye. Bill noticed however and tilted the boys face back to look at his.

"I didn't hear a response... Do you anything to say to my comment?" The demon asked, sweetly.

The Pine twin lowered his head.

"No..." He said, choking back a sob.

Bill grinned in a rather eerie way.

"Exactly!"

"DIPPER! DINNER'S READY!" The sound of his mother's voice could be heard.

Dipper sighed as he prepared to go down stairs.

Bill grinned one last time before the boy left his room.

"Good luck being shamed by your parents. You're gonna need it."

The demon let out a shrill laugh as the boy slammed the door.

Walking down the stairs Dipper could see that everyone was already at the kitchen table.

He sulkily sat in his chair.

"Dipper, you're mother told me that you snapped at her. Care to explain why that was necessary?" He father asked, giving him a rather condescending look.

"Yeah Pine Tree; why was that necessary?" Bill could be heard echoing.

"Well... I... I was just upset." Dipper answered.

"Upset about what?" His mother asked.

"I was upset about the fact that I was trying to tell you about my day and you weren't even listening to me." The boy explained.

"That doesn't give you the right to raise your voice to your mother." His father sighed.

"I'm sorry Dad... I just didn't know how else to go about it."

"Hmm..." Was all his father mustered before he became more focused on the vegetable on his plate.

"Well what happened today that got this upset?" His mother asked.

"All the kids made fun me. They didn't believe any of the adventures I went on this summer." Dipper explained.

His mother groaned.

"Dipper... Is this involving all those things you went on about in gym class today?"

"How...?"

"Mabel already told us about it. Look young man, your fascination with the supernatural is getting redundant."

"But... I'm not lying; everything I saw and did this summer was real. Dad you've lived in Gravity Falls, surely you had to have seen something out of the ordinary."

His father rolled his eyes.

"Stan must have been feeding into your imagination with that Mystery Shack and all. That place was a dump and I have no regrets leaving it."

"Your own Father isn't even backing you up." Bill laughed.

Dipper was tempted to yell out at Bill, but decided against it.

"Stan was always crazy; and I'm not surprised it started to rub off on you." His mother sneered.

"But..." Dipper protested.

"It's our fault that we sent you up there in the first place. We wanted you to get a nice change in scenery. All we got in return was Stan indulging you into your fantasies."

Dipper found himself pounding his fists on the table.

"At least Grunkle Stan cared and wanted to spend time with us!" He cried, not caring if he was crying.

"Bite your tongue, young man!" His father growled.

"You never want to spend anytime with me or Mabel! What did we do that made you do those things?!"

His mother stared.

"That's not true, honey. We all spend plenty of time together."

"When was the last time we all actually spent time together?" Dipper asked in a dead serious tone.

"Um... well... There was that time we went to that Balloon festival. Right honey?" His mother asked her husband.

"Yeah... Oh... That... was... five years ago... I..." His father just scrambled his words to distract himself from his sons question.

"That is so pathetic, Pine Tree. Your parents really don't care about you or Shooting Star."

Dipper looked at his parents as they actually were thinking of an answer to his question. Making the boy wonder: what did he do wrong?

Mabel sat in silence at the table as she finished her dinner.

"Thanks for the dinner Mom! I'm going to finish mu homework!" She smiled, obviously pretending that nothing was wrong.

"That's fine, sweetie. Just put your dishes in the sink before you do." Her mother said.

The female twin went to the sink before she skipped off to her room.

Dipper turned back towards his parents.

"Can I be excused?" He asked.

"Finish your dinner!" His father ordered.

"I'm not hungry." The boy could only mutter.

His parents only stared at each other before his father glared.

"Then go to your room! And I don't want to see you for the rest of the night!"

"Fine..." Said the Pine boy.

He walked back into his room to see Bill munching on what appeared to be cookies.

"I like your Mom's cookies." He giggled in a rather suggestive way.

Dipper shuddered at the comment before glaring.

"Why did you have to but into my conversation with my family?" He demanded.

Bill grinned in his psychotic manner before he floated in front of Dipper.

"Like I've said; I've been watching you; and I think my suspicions have been confirmed. You don't have anybody, and that includes your father and your mother."

Dipper was about retort when Bill cut him off.

"You can't deny it, Pine Tree, I saw it. I saw it for my very self; and after today, you know that nobody believed a word you said."

Dipper sat on his bed.

"Why?" He asked. "Why did it have to be this way?"

Bill floated down before sitting next to him on the bed.

"Because your not in your element anymore. Gravity Falls was where you truly belonged, not this boring city. But face the facts kid, there is probably little chance you're ever going back there again."

Dipper felt the tears slide down his cheeks as he felt the truth process through his mind. His parents were never going to let him go back again, not after the events of today.

Bill smiled in a creepily sweet way as he pulled Dipper closer to him.

"But you don't have to worry about that anymore, Pine Tree. Because I'm here for you; I'll be a more of a parent to you than those two could ever be. You won't be alone anymore."

Dipper looked down at the ground as he thought about what Bill had just said. Would the demon be a better friend and parent to him? How could that be possible? It was Bill he was talking about; and the demon had no morals and no respect for anything. That and he was sadistic like no one's business.

The demon stared at the boy's pondering face before standing up and dusting of his jacket.

"I can see you want some more time to think things over. I'll come back in a while to see where we're at."

Dipper shrugged his shoulders.

Bill smiled before he disappeared.

Dipper continued to sit on the bed as he thought about what he should do next.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Dipper didn't know how he managed to survive to the weekend, but sure enough his first week of junior high was finally over. He just wished that it was the beginning of June instead of September.

The pine boy sat at the back of the bus as he thought about what he should do this weekend, but it he wondered what would be there for him to do? Especially considering the fact that he and Mabel had barely spoken to each since the incident at the gym.

The good new was however that Bill had spoken since that time; so that was something right?

The bus pulled up in front of Pines house as Dipper and Mabel quickly got off.

The two sighed in relief as the walked up the driveway to the front door. Going inside they could see their mother watching tv by the kitchen counter while she was on the phone.

"I'll call you back, the kids just came in." She hung up the phone. "Hi... How was school?"

"Sucked..." Dipper replied, feeling rather depressed about it.

"Okay I guess..." Mabel responded.

Their mother smiled at them.

"Well that's good... Since it's Friday, your father side that he'll take us all out to dinner."

"That's great!" Dipper smiled.

"I hope you're excited for some French cuisine."

Dipper felt his face drop.

"Mom... We never go out for..."

"Well... You're father had a great day at work and he wanted to celebrate by taking us someplace nice.

Mabel seemed to light up.

"I've never been to a fancy restaurant before... I wonder if all the waiters will be dressed in black suits and the menu's in French..."

"Didn't you go to a fancy restaurant with Gideon?" Dipper asked.

Mabel ignored him.

"Enough talking, go upstairs and get ready." Their mother said briskly.

"But Mom... Can't we..."

Their mother turned her back off in her own little world.

Dipper gave up and decided to just be a good boy and get ready.

Walking into his room, he began to search his closet for something nice to wear.

Since he rarely went to fancy restaurants or parties like that, he never really had a fancy suit that he owned; and for that much if there was a fancy get up, his mother would just rent him one from American Tuxedo Commodore. But if he wanted to honest however, he really didn't want to go have a family dinner at a fancy French restaurant. He would much rather go to a casual family restaurant and enjoy his family's company just like they did when he was little. Only he had to wonder how happy those times really were or did just think he was happy because he was little and seemed to accept the norm as normal. Then again who knew.

After rummaging through everything Dipper finally found a pair of dressy looking grey pants and a grey sports jacket to much. He decided to just wear a white button down shirt underneath.

He walked into the bathroom expecting it to be empty; so it was safe to say he was shocked and horrified to see Bill casually sitting on the toilet. Whether he was actually doing any "business" he wasn't sure nor cared.

"Yeessh... Pine Tree! Have you ever heard of knocking?" The demon grinned as if everything was normal.

"Why are you in my bathroom?" Dipper asked.

"Because I may or may not have broke something in your parent's bathroom; which I am pretty certain you'll probably get blamed."

Dipper rolled his eyes.

"What do you want now?"

"I wanted to see where we were at. Well...?"

The boy glared.

"Well what?" He asked carefully.

"I wanted to see where we were at about wanting my help or the fact that I could provide better nurturing than those two you call dad and mommy." The demon laughed.

"I think that I am better the way I am now... I don't need or want any of your nurturing especially if it involves throwing me down the stairs." Dipper stated in a dead serious tone.

Bill frowned.

You're kidding right?" He asked.

"I'm not kidding, Bill. I feel that I would rather suffer on my own; and I firmly believe that you'll only add to my suffering."

The boy watched as the demon's face twitched slightly. Worrying the boy that the demon was becoming mad, however he calmed his face before giving a rather angry smile.

"That's fine... That's perfectly fine. You're at an age that you can make your own decisions. So go on and live as your parents shadow... Because that's all you'll ever be to them."

Then in an instant the demon was gone.

Dipper took a few minutes to see if there was a lingering presence, but he was gone; Bill was gone.

The boy smiled in relief as he splashed some warm water on his face as he began to wash up. Finally the demon was going to leave him alone.

After finishing washing up he skipped out into the hallway to see Mabel staring at him rather confused.

"What's with you?" She asked.

"Me... Um... Nothing... Just had a funny thought."

Mabel rolled her eyes slightly before going into the bathroom.

Dipper continued to smile as he went back into his room to change his clothes. Once he was dressed he walked downstairs to see his mother was dressed up.

"Is your sister ready yet?" She asked, checking her make up in the mirror.

"She should be soon..." Dipper answered.

"MABEL ARE YOU DONE YET?!" Their yelled at the type of the stairs.

"IN A MINUTE!" A yell came from upstairs.

Dipper tried to focus on the positives; the family was going out to together for dinner and it would just be the four of them, just like old times.

Finally Mabel came down the stairs wearing a hot pink dress that looked like it had to have been made in the 80's. Her hair was curled slightly and she wore glittery gold hoop earrings in her ears.

Her mother only stared.

"Not exactly my choice but it will do." Their mother sighed. "Let's go, you're father said he would meet us at the restaurant.

The twins sat in the backseat of their mother's car as the silent drive moved along. Dipper was tempted to tell Mabel about Bill appearing, but after what happened earlier this week, things really haven't been the same between them. Giving Dipper the decision to remain quiet and stared down at his hands in his lap.

It wasn't long before the car pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. At the corner a young man dressed in a suit came to the car.

Wish me to park your car ma'am?" He asked.

"Yes please." She said as they all got out of the car.

"Can I ride with you?" Mabel asked in a love sick voice.

The man laughed.

"That's cute... When you're older you'll find a nice young man you're age." He said as he pulled off with the car.

Mabel looked off rather embarrassed as she joined her family as they went inside. As the entered the main room of the restaurant they could see their father talking with a group of other people.

Dipper felt his heart sank, he thought that this was supposed to be a family dinner, just the four of them.

Their father came over and kissed their mother on the cheek.

"I forgot to mention that the others and their families were going to be coming as well. The boss is treating us all for dinner because of that huge deal we made with that computer program.

Their mother grinned.

"Oh honey, that's wonderful!" She cried. "Kids isn't that great?!"

"That's nice..." Dipper sighed, sadly.

"Does this mean I can have whatever I want on the menu?!" Mabel asked, excited.

"Anything you want, honey!" Their father smiled.

Twenty minutes later, Dipper was sitting at the large table in the back with the rest of the families. While everyone was chatting away happily about this and that, the Pine twin just sat there in a quiet daze. This was supposed to be the time that he wanted to spend with his family; so why wasn't that happening?

He looked over to see Mabel and some of the other kids chatting away about random little tidbits leaving him completely left out. He actually tried to get into the conversation, but he was completely dismissed; almost if he was never there.

The entire meal seemed to go on forever and ever. Each dish was served as a course; and every time it was time for the next course, the servers would take his plate away, even if he wasn't even done yet.

In all honesty however, the food wasn't that spectacular. Dipper figured he could probably get a better meal Panera if he really wanted to.

He saw his parents talking to some of the adults. They seemed completely enveloped in their own world that Dipper had to wonder if they really saw him and his sister at all.

He walked over to get his mother's attention.

"Mom... Can I..."

"Dipper you mother and I are busy right now! Go back to your seat!" His father ordered.

"But I just wanted to ask..."

"NOW!"

Dipper cringed slightly before he walked back to his seat. He had to wonder; what did he do wrong? What did he do to make his parents constantly brush him off?

That's when he shook his fiercely.

"No... Bill's wrong; my parents love me very much and would do anything for me. Maybe they are not the most perfect, but they are my parents none the less." He thought comfortingly to himself.

That's when he realized he needed to use the bathroom.

He walked into the bathroom to do his business feeling slightly better when he suddenly heard his father and another man walk in.

"Do you think that this deal will get you that promotion?" The man asked.

"I hope so... I've been with company for almost 20 years and have put in so much time and effort into what I do to not get this." His father sighed.

"I have to envy you sometimes; I mean you have a great job, a wonderful wife, and two great kids at home that love you."

"Well... You're right about most of that..."

Dipper froze.

"Most of that...? What did he mean by most of that?" He thought.

"What do you mean? Isn't your family great?" The man asked.

"Well I do have a lovely wife and a terrific daughter, but I can't say the same for my son."

"Dipper... What about him?"

"Where do I even start with him... He's just so out there... When I was his age, I was out there playing sports and getting into trouble while all that boy does is sit around and read and go investigating about the supernatural. Plus that boy is a wimp and is constantly is getting letters sent home to me and my wife about how he's getting bullied in school. He won't fight back, he just takes it."

"Have you tried spending more time with him? Maybe getting involved in some of the things he likes?"

"I would if his like's weren't so childish and redundant; and I feel like this summer made it even worse. We sent him and Mabel up to Gravity Falls Oregon this summer to get them some fresh air. When they come home, Dipper is talking about this journal that he found and all about these monster he supposedly seen and about some triangle named Bill Cipher."

"Didn't your father seem to about talk about that stuff too?"

"That was my Uncle Stan who always seemed to be into that stuff. He raised me after my father died, but Stan was always a nut job and I'm starting to think that too much of him is in Dipper."

"Wow I can see why you never really liked that Stan guy all that much. I guess there is a part of him in Dipper as well."

"Dipper is a disappointment; he always was and he always will be. He will always be weak; and I can only imagine what he'll be like in another few years."

The men seemed to laugh off the conversation as they walked out of the bathroom.

Dipper opened the stall door with a look of ultimate shame on his face.

He had heard everything that his father had said. He heard exactly what his father thought of him. He was nothing but a blemish to him; somebody that he couldn't please no matter how hard he tried.

He washed his hands and walked back to the dinner to see that everywhere was eating desserts were quietly talking amongst themselves. It was almost as if they didn't even realize he was gone.

Dipper slunk back in his chair as he tried to keep himself from crying. He didn't want to feel even more shame from his father if he had the gall to start crying on public.

"Dipper are you all right, honey?" His mother asked, noticing his gloomy expression.

Dipper was about to talk when his father put his hand up.

"He's being a little brat, honey. He wants to get to your attention. He's been like this all night; so ignore him. If he wants to behave like a child he will be treated like a child."

His mother turned her head back to husband and resumed talking to the others.

Dipper just leaned his head back as he waited for the comforting sanctuary of his bedroom where he could be alone.

The car ride was long and depression. The Pine boy listened to his father talk about how he may finally get that promotion that he had been working so hard for; and then he heard Mabel talking about one of the boys at dinner had asked her out on a date.

"So when are you guys going out?" Their mother asked.

"Tomorrow night! I have to get a new outfit!" Mabel beamed, happily.

Dipper just stared out the window as the rain seemed to fall down on the pavement. His father's words continued to burn deep within in his mind. How could look at his parents the same way again?

Finally the Pines Family was back home as they walked up the drive of their home.

Dipper didn't even bother saying goodnight anyone as he walked upstairs to his bedroom.

He ripped off his clothes as he changed into his pajamas when he felt himself staring towards the wall adjacent to his sister's room.

Mabel was the one person that he had left; if he didn't have her, then he didn't have anyone.

They hadn't spoken in almost a week, maybe he needed to make the first move. She always accepted him for what he was; now wouldn't be different, would it?

Dipper walked towards his sister's room to see the door was closed. He tried to open it to find it was locked.

He knocked timidly on the door.

"Mabel... I know your in there and I know you can hear me..." He said, quietly.

No answer.

"Please I need to talk to someone."

No answer.

"Please Mabel... You're all I really have left. If I lose you, then I don't have anybody..." Dipper felt his voice cracking.

Mabel was on the other side, she could feel tears running her cheeks. She wanted to call out to her brother badly, but dwelling on the summer was just hurting both of them. Why couldn't he let it go?

Because of that she maintained her silence.

Dipper continued to stand there before he knocked one last time.

"Mabel... Do you wanna have sleepover?" He asked, sadly.

No answer.

The Pine twin stared at the door before he walked back to his room.

He opened the door to find Bill sitting on his bed. Frowning slightly.

"So Pine Tree... You still think you don't need nurturing from me?" He asked.

Dipper looked at the dream demon.

He was strongly tempted to tell the demon to shove it, but after what happened tonight with what his father truly thought of him; along with Mabel's silence. Who did he have left?"

"You don't have anybody, Pine Tree; and you know exactly what your father thinks of you."

Bill held his arm out for Dipper to take.

The boy continued to stare at the demon's arm as he pondered if he was better off on his own, or if the need for affection would have been worth it.

Even from someone that was as psychotic as Bill.

However the fact that the demon promised to show him fatherly affection that his own father wouldn't give him was what really swayed his decision.

And without at a second that thought, Dipper ran into the demon's arms, crying. Not noticing the blue flames the surrounded the demon or the sly smile on his face


	6. Chapter 6

One month later

It was a rather chilly Saturday morning when Dipper felt his eyes flutter open.

He got slowly up as and began walking towards the bathroom. Going inside he could see that Mabel was already in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

"Hey Mabel." He said to his sister.

"Hey..." She said quietly as she finished brushing out her long wet hair.

"How have you been?" He asked.

"Fine I guess." She answered back.

"Can I ask you something?"

Mabel remained quiet.

"What happened to us? We used to be so close."

Mabel fidgeted around slightly as she tried to keep tears from forming in her eyes.

"I don't know, bro bro... I just have a lot going on is all." She said, sadly.

"I really want us to get back from that closeness that we once felt. Maybe we could spend the day together just you and me."

Mabel smiled a little.

"I would like that." She smiled.

"Okay then..." Dipper smiled back as his sister left the room.

As soon as the door was closed the sound of the water seemed to coming from inside the shower.

Dipper groaned slightly.

After everything had gone down with his classmates and his family, Dipper had decided to allow Bill to help him or gave him parental affection that his own parents wouldn't give him.

The affection was a very, very mixed bag.

While it was great to have a parent that really did seem to care about him, the boy really wasn't himself lately. The biggest problem was that he could barely sleep at night. Anytime he felt that he could finally drift into a content state, horrifying images would haunt his mind. Something in his subconscious was screaming at him to run away from Bill as far possible.

Dipper didn't tell his anybody about his nightmares. A, they wouldn't believe and B, they would think that was starting to lose his mind and Dipper was scared that his parents would force him to see a doctor again.

Another problem seemed to be that Bill really liked being in control. Anytime Dipper attempted to make a different observation or make a second guess about something, the demon would become rather odd. He first would just give him a strange look; it wasn't an angry or offended look, but just this odd smile. Like some grinding gears were whirling in his mind. Then he would start saying how Dipper didn't know what he was talking about or how he was in denial to all that he saw.

Dipper had actually tried to stand up for himself a couple times; even going as far that he didn't need the demon anymore.

Only the demon would ask him in horrifying sweet voice.

"If I leave you, Pine tree, then who do you have left?"

Dipper would then realize that the demon was right and apologize.

"It looks like it's the first you and Shooting Star have talked to each other in a month." Bill could be heard from behind the curtain.

Dipper was about to pull back the curtain when he was interrupted again.

"I wouldn't do that... Unless you want to make an awkward moment happen." The demon laughed, unfazed.

"What you mean?" Dipper asked.

"I mean Shooting Star has made no attempt to talk to you, at all. The only reason she even did was because you had to make the first move. Hell it seemed like she really didn't want to talk to you, either."

"Well I like to think that Mabel and I are finally are going to make some progress into getting back the relationship we just had. We are going to spend the day together."

Bill chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny?" Dipper asked, frowning.

"How do you know that she'll actually follow through?"

What do you mean? She my sister; of course she'll follow through!"

"I seem to recall that your sister has failed you many times; and she bailed on you a lot of times this summer alone. While you have done all you could for her; but it wasn't enough. Was it Pine Tree?"

Dipper frowned harder.

"Mabel always meant well and a lot of those times I did those things for her she was doing good. Like when she wanted to help Mermando get back to the ocean and when she was able to defeat those gnomes."

"But what about when you wanted to have a great day at the fair with Red? Or the time she wanted to impress that boy with that Puppet show where you even helped her with it; but not once did she help you with the laptop."

Dipper looked down at the ground feeling more unsure of himself.

He was to into his thoughts that he didn't hear the sound of the water shutting off.

A snap could be heard from behind the curtain before the demon reappeared. His clothes were slightly different this time involving a yellow oversized sweater and black skinny jeans.

The boy stared dumbfounded.

"I guess Shooting Star rubbed off on me a little. Only my sense of style is classier compared to her garb." He said with a rather condescending smile.

"Can I take a shower now?" Dipper asked, getting annoyed.

"Yeesh kid, don't have to be testy. Regardless I think I'll go and look inside your Mom's underwear drawer." He vanished

The Pine Twin decided to let the demon to what wanted. His mother would just blame him for anything that were to happen anyway.

Once he was done showering, Dipper walked back to his room to get dressed.

He had traded his red t-shirt and shorts for a red sweater and some brown skinny jeans. Putting his clothes he tied his shoes and put on his hat before walking down the stairs to join his parents for breakfast when he heard his mother.

"Charlie have you seen my red satin nightie?" She asked her husband.

"It's gone again?" His father asked.

"Yeah... I keep finding it in the strangest places. The garage, the family room, hell I found outside in the bushes with a note saying "I like your cookies."

Dipper cringed. What Bill's was doing with his mother's nightgown, he didn't want to as he entered the room.

"Good morning, sunshine! How are you?" His mother beamed.

"Fine..." Dipper sighed.

"Did you sleep good?" His father asked.

"Yes..." The boy answered again.

"Well that's good because I thought the four of us could all spend the day together."

Dipper was rather shocked. His Father hadn't spent time with in years; so why now?

"Why?" Dipper asked, suspicious.

His father frowned slightly.

"Look Dipper, I get I haven't been around for you as much as I should have; but I'm doing the best I can. I just need you to meet me halfway."

The boy had to question how sincere his father was being; especially after what he had said at the restaurant; but if his father really meant it.

"What did you have in mind?" Dipper asked.

About an hour later all four of them were in the car, singing to the radio.

Dipper sat quietly until he felt Mabel placing stickers on his face while she smiled.

"Listen bro, bro. I'm sorry I drifted away from you this past month. It's just that I was said summer was over and that we had to go back to our old lives."

"I'm sorry too, Mabel. You were right, no one was going to believe me about Gravity Falls anyway. I just miss everybody, that's all." He smiled, deciding it was probably a good idea to not say anything about Bill.

"Mystery twins..." Mabel smiled.

Dipper smiled back.

"Mystery twins..." The two pounded their fists together.

It wasn't very long until they began pulling into a parking lot.

"Well we're here." Their father said as he stopped the car.

They all got out to see that they had come to a rather large park that they used to go to when they were little. There was always some much; from nature trails to rope climbing there was even a little playground for little kids to play.

Mabel's eyes lit up.

"OH MY GOSH WE HAVEN'T GONE HERE IN YEARS!" She beamed.

"Settle down, sweetie." Her mother said.

"I heard they got bungee jumping now! Can I bungee jump?!" Mabel asked.

"Maybe..." Her mother said looking very unsure.

"Come on bro bro."

The twins ran off.

The afternoon began to settle down as the twins had settled down for some food with their parents.

Dipper had gone hiking along the different paths and visiting some of the nature exhibits. While Mabel had gone bungee jumping and other extreme site exhibits.

The two hadn't had this much fun with their parents in so long. Dipper hadn't even thought about Bill the entire afternoon.

While the family was eating, Bill was silently stalking them through the trees.

He was actually rather surprised that the family had even decided to spend some time together and they were actually happy.

Bill found it all so interesting, then again humans had always fascinated him through the centuries. But he would be lying if he wasn't starting to get slightly concerned.

Granted, Bill was always one step ahead of Dipper, however the pine boy seemed to be drifting back to towards his family; which would complicate things a little bit.

Because of what had happened to Dipper between his classmates and his father, the dream demon had managed to gain the boy's trust and agreed give him the affection that the boy had always wanted from his father.

However Bill had other plans.

The dream demon sighed annoyingly as he thought of his plans for his nightmarish world disappearing thanks to Dipper and his friends. He would probably would have disappeared as well had he not gotten away at the last minute.

While he knew he would have another opportunity to carry out his plans again at some point, the fact that he was set back again was what really made him tick.

And because of that, Bill wanted to punish Dipper.

In order for him to do that however, he would need to have the boy fully under his control. So far the odds were in his favor, but Dipper was still being defiant and was still questioning everything around him. More still the demon had been plaguing the boy with nightmares seeing what his fears and weakness' were, and wasn't surprised that within his dreams he could see that Dipper still didn't trust him. The boy's subconscious was warning him to run as far away from as he could; or it would far too late.

The demon had to diminish Dipper's subconscious fear where it lay. Then boy would be his to do whatever he wanted.

Dipper looked towards the trees to see the demon for himself; but he was having to great of day to want to spoil it.

"So who wants to some zip gliding?" Mabel asked.

"I wouldn't mind giving it a go." Dipper said.

"Mom... Dad...?" The twin girl asked.

Their parents looked rather unsure of themselves before they agreed.

As they started up the path parents had decided to take some pictures of the lush landscape telling their kids they would meet.

Their father had taken some snapshots when his wife seemed to grab something within trees before her eyes widened in disturbed horror.

He thought she may have grabbed a large spider or something, so it was safe to say that he was just as disturbed when he saw pulled out the red nightie.

"Charlie... How did this get here?! Did you bring it here?!" She demanded.

"Mary... I swear I didn't even see! I don't even know how it got here!" He cried.

"Someone had to have brought here! I mean nightie's don't just..." She stopped when she noticed a note inside.

"What the..."

The Pines mother eyes widened when she read the words: "Can I have some cookies?"

Meanwhile Dipper and Mabel began walking up some stone paths when Dipper felt someone knock him to the ground. The boy felt his face make contact with the ground first. The boy barely managed to pull himself when he saw Frankie and his above him, laughing.

Dipper glared as blood streamed out of his nose.

"Well, well if it isn't our "friend" Little Dipper." Frankie laughed.

"What do you want from me?!" Dipper demanded. "Haven't you humiliated me enough?!"

Frankie wasted no time in grabbing by the shirt and raising him into the air.

"Listen here Dipper! You think you can just waltz around and try to make yourself look like a here, but I'm sorry to say you don't fit into that equation you little twerp." He growled.

"LET GO OF MY BROTHER!" Mabel cried as tried to get Frankie to let go.

The bully's one other friend kicked her in the stomach, sending her to the ground in pain.

"You're going to learn your place in this world, Dipper. Then you'll know when to keep quiet."

Dipper tried to use all of his strength to get away but his head felt so light headed that he couldn't do much of anything.

Frankie punched him in the face, forcing the boy to spit up blood.

The boy tried to retaliate but he felt the punches coming and coming leaving him to only go limp and try to dull out the pain.

Mabel cried and screamed for Frankie to get off her brother but the other boys would violently kick until she only quietly sobbing.

Dipper looked around him when he thought he saw a flash of grey for a second.

Frankie finally dropped him back on the steps.

"You're weak Dipper!" He raised his one leg into air. "And now I'm going to prove how weak you really are!"

The bully was about to ram his foot into the boy's stomach when the step beneath him began to give way.

It all happened so fast, but Dipper could see Frankie tumbling down the steps until he crash to the hard stone ground, shattering his left leg and being cover large scratches.

Mabel and the other bullies cried out in horror as they could hear Frankie's agonizing screams.

More and more people came to see what happened and were horrified by what they saw.

Dipper remained where he was, but he felt his entire body shaking. Bill was responsible for what happened. The dream demon had managed to find a way for the step to cave in sending the bully to his karma.

Dipper really didn't know if he should be thankful or horrified.

"Someone call an ambulance!" One of the workers cried.

Dipper slinked back down to join Mabel.

"Let's go find Mom and Dad." He said.

Mabel only nodded.

The two turned to walk to when Frankie screamed.

"I'LL GET YOU BACK FO THIS, PINES! WHEN I CAN GET BACK ON FEET, YOU'RE DEAD!"

The Pines twins walked for a little more when they saw their parent walking toward them. Their mother was fuming.

"What is this?!" She demanded, holding up her nightgown and the note.

The two shrugged their shoulders.

"Why are you two covered in blood?! Are you all right?!"

Mabel ran into her mother's arms as she starting sobbing.

"Dipper what happened?!" Their father demanded.

Dipper wanted to tell them everything, but he knew they would just dismiss anything he said. They claimed his imagination was getting the best of him.

"Can we go home now?" He asked.

"Sure baby, we'll go home..." His mother said, rather confused.

The family began to head towards the car as Dipper turned back to the trees one more time. He couldn't believe he was about to this but.

"Bill... Thank you..." He ran to join his family.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The car ride was filled with nothing but a cold hardening silence with the exception of Mabel's sniffling.

Dipper was still in pure shock in what had happened. He could still hear the sound of Frankie's agonizing screams as he shattered his leg. His body had horrifying gashes. All thanks to Bill.

He tried to keep himself calm.

Granted the demon had saved him from being brutally injured by the bully, however the boy was very lucky to be alive. That tumble could have easily caused him to crack his head open on the ground or the steps. Another horrifying thought was that everyone around and even Frankie could say that Dipper had pushed him himself. Then he would be in huge trouble.

The Pine boy gripped his hands tightly against the seat as all these thoughts played in his mind.

But then he remembered if he told Bill to leave him, the demon would just laugh and say.

"Who will you have left?"

Dipper tried to keep back his tears. He didn't want to receive a condescending look from his father. That's all he would need the pain of knowing of what a failure he was in his father eyes.

Dipper looked over to see his sister remaining stone faced, her face chalky from crying.

The boy tried to grab his sister's hand, but she pulled away. He tried to look at her but she only would stare out the window.

The boy was almost convinced that Mabel believed that he actually threw Frankie down the stairs.

After twenty more minutes of silence the car finally pulled into the driveway.

Mabel got out of the car immediately and ran inside; more than likely to lock herself in her room.

Dipper got out of the car and slowly walked inside. His parents came in after him and took their jackets off.

There was an awkward silence between the three of them until his mother spoke.

"I'm going to get dinner started." She sighed.

Her husband before he retreated into the tv room to watch the football game.

Dipper needed his mother affection so badly. He needed to know that she cared about him.

"Mommy...?" He whimpered.

His mother turned around.

"What's the matter, honey?" She asked.

"I... I..." But Dipper couldn't say anything. What could he say to her?

"What baby?" She asked, confused.

Unable to handle it anymore, the boy ran up the stairs and locked himself in the bathroom.

Turning on the water, he splashed the hot water on his face. He tried to clean the cuts and bruises on his face and arms, but his tears kept getting in the way.

He never felt more isolated and alone than he did at this very moment. His body ached from the beating and the lack of sleeping he had been getting. His parents really didn't seem to notice to that he was pain. They seemed more concern with how his mother found her nightgown in the trees of the park than his well being. It actually looked like they seemed more concerned about Mabel than they did about him. Then again, he was a disappointment to his father; so why should he have been surprised.

After he finally finished cleaning himself up, Dipper walked out of the bathroom when he heard the sound of voices coming from his sister's room.

He slowly walked to Mabel's room to see the door slightly ajar to find that their father was sitting at the foot of the bed and seemed to be speaking softly to Mabel who had her face buried in a pillow. After several minutes, Mabel rose her head up and the two embraced.

Dipper felt his heart hurting more and more; it hurt so much to see his sister and their father have a loving moment together when he didn't pay any mind to him. He wanted to go inside and yell and scream at his father as to what he had done to make him feel such resentment towards him. Only he had no courage to do so; and even if he tried, his father would just send him on a guilt trip until the boy would feel bad for yelling at his parent and apologize immediately.

Not knowing what else to do, he retreated back into his room to sit on his bed and continued to let his thoughts consume him.

He then turned to see his phone sitting on the desk.

"Maybe I should give Grunkle Stan a call." He thought.

He continued to stare at the phone until he finally decided pick up the phone and dial the number to the mystery shack.

The phone rang about three times until he heard Stan's gruff voice on the other end.

"Yeah! Who is it?!"

"Grunkle Stan, it's Dipper." He replied, quietly.

"Hey there kid! How's it going?" Stan said, actually sounding happy hear from him.

"I just thought about you and decided to see what was up."

Stan sighed.

"Actually things have been a lot quieter since you left. Soos just moved out of Gravity about a week ago to be with that Melody; and Wendy is only working on the weekends now. So I've been pretty much here by myself. Plus since the weather's gotten colder and it's been raining more business is slow."

Dipper smiled softly; at least the others seemed to be doing well.

"How have you and Mabel been?" Stan asked.

"We've been fine. Back to school and stuff..." Dipper trailed off. The last thing he wanted was to mention all that had gone down. He didn't want to Stan to worry about him.

"Kid... You okay?" Stan asked, sounding concerned.

"Grunkle Stan... Um... Do you think I could come and live with you in Gravity Falls full time?" He asked.

Stan was silent for a few minutes before speaking again.

"Look kid... I would love for you and Mabel to come here; it hasn't been the same since you left, but your parents would never allow it. Your parents don't think highly of me; and I got a scathing phone call from your mother about how I was feeding into your imagination."

"But it's been hell since I came back! Things haven't been the same! Gravity Falls is where I truly belong!" Dipper cried, swallowing back a sob.

"I get it, kid; but there's nothing I can do. Not with my past history. I'm sorry, kiddo." Stan said, who actually felt like crying himself.

"I... understand..." Dipper whimpered, defeated.

"Just remember what I told you; don't tamper with the supernatural. It's too dangerous. Okay?"

"Yeah..."

They were interrupted when the sound of Dipper's mother could be heard on the phone.

"STAN! What are you doing?!" She demanded.

"Nice to hear from you too, Mary." Stan gruffly replied.

"Mom I called him." Dipper explained.

"Say goodbye, Dipper! NOW!" She snarled.

"Nice talking to you, too." Stan taunted.

Mary growled again before slamming down the receiver on her end.

"You better go before your mother goes on the warpath." Stan sighed.

Dipper wiped tears away before he spoke again.

"Grunkle Stan... I... I..." But Stan cut the crying boy off.

"I know, kid... I love you, too... Tell Mabel that I love her, too." Stan breathed, knowing this was the last time he was ever going to hear from them again.

"Bye Stan..."

"Bye Dipper..."

Dipper hang up before he let out a heart wrenching scream and threw the phone against the wall. Sending piece across the room. The one person he had left in his family was now gone for good. Did his parents have to take everything away from him.

The door to his room flew open for the boy to see his mother standing there.

"Why...?" He sobbed. "Why...?"

"Honey I'm sorry..." She said as she tried to come and hug him.

"DON"T TOUCH ME!" He screamed.

"Dipper... I only did what I thought was best..."

"Grunkle Stan cared about me!"

"Dipper please let's not talk about this anymore." His mother begged.

"What did I do that was so wrong?!" Dipper sobbed.

"Honey... come down stairs and have some dinner." His mother begged.

"I'm not hungry.." He answered quietly.

"Please honey...? Please come and talk to us?"

"I hate you!" Dipper sobbed, angrily.

Within an instance, his mother looked at him in shock before she slowly walked out of the room and shut the door, not saying another word.

Dipper sat in the corner of his room as he pulled out his photo album. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he looked at the pictures of when he was younger. Back when he wasn't such a disappointment to them. What could have he possibly done to make them feel this way. They seemed to favor and praise Mabel for all of her talents, even with all of her craziness. So why couldn't he please them?

The boy remained in his spot for about two hours when guilt finally told him to go downstairs and apologize.

He was just a few steps down when he heard the sound of his parents talking in the kitchen.

"Charlie... Do you think I'm a bad mother?" His mother seemed to ask.

"Of course not, honey! Why would you think that?!" His father asked, shocked.

"Dipper said that he hated me."

His father sighed, incredulously.

"He actually said that to you?!"

"Do you think it's true?"

"Not in the slightest, Mary. You're a terrific mother. You've done a wonderful job with Mabel."

"So why does Dipper think that way? I'm starting to think there's something wrong with him." His mother sighed.

Charlie glared before he spoke.

"I think you're right. Dipper seems to be acting more and more different as the years go on; and it didn't help with this summer at all. Stan let him indulge in his fantasy and now Dipper's being bullied for it."

"Where did we go wrong with him?" Mary asked.

"We should have been more hard on him. I should have pushed more to join the debate team or to join the robotics club. But we let him do his own thing and let him become a weak little doormat.

Dipper couldn't keep any of his tears back as he listened to how coldly his parents spoke of him.

"Think we should send him back to the doctor?" Mary asked.

Charlie sighed.

"I don't know... We talk about it later. Let's go watch tv."

The two hugged before leaving the room.

There was all the proof he needed. His parents were ashamed of him; he couldn't twist the words no matter how he tried.

The boy shakily climbed up the stair trying to hold back the vomit that was coming up. The words burned so far into his brain. Guilt and shame was consuming his soul.

"Dipper?" Mabel asked, gently. "What's wrong?"

The boy looked at his sister. The sibling that couldn't do wrong. The sibling that he sacrificed everything for, but never gave him anything in return.

"Dipper?!" She asked again, now visibly worried.

Dipper sobbed as he roughly pushed her aside.

He slammed the door locking it tight. The only place where he couldn't be hurt.

He threw himself on his bed as he sobbed bitterly, clenching the sheets tightly. He was crying so hard that he could barely breathe. The boy was a stain on his family and now he knew he couldn't do anything more to please him.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry.. I'm sorry..." He sobbed in shame.

It wasn't long before he could feel Bill's gloved hand gently stroking his hair. The demon pulled him closer as he held the crying boy closer to him.

"Shh... Hush now, Pine Tree..." The demon said in a soothing a voice as he smiled with pleasure. Dipper was ever more slowly becoming entangled in the demon's grasp. Soon there would be no escape.

"I didn't mean to a failure!" Dipper sobbed, incoherently.

"Don't listen to them, little one... Listen to me. I will never do to you what those have done."

The boy finally went limp before he buried his face into the demon's chest and let out all of his pain and agony.

Bill laughed to himself slightly as he continued to stroke the boy's hair.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Did you ever feel so empty inside that you can't really seem to react to anything? Well that is exactly how Dipper felt as he sat in his homeroom class that cold rainy morning.

What reason would he have not to? His parents were outright ashamed of him. His sister completely abandoned him when he really needed her. He was no longer allowed to have any contact with Stan; and all the kids treated him like an outcast more than ever before.

And since he had been completely abandoned by everyone around him, he had turned to Bill for comfort; even when something in his subconscious was screaming at him to get as far away from the dream demon as possible.

But then who would he left? Which is when he would shake the feeling off and remain blissfully unaware of what could be going on.

The pine boy laid his head on his desk just wanting to home and crawl under covers and just sleep forever. Being trapped in a world where he didn't seem to belong was taking an exhausting toll him. Everyday he prayed he would find himself walking up in Mystery Shack during the summer and everything would be fine. Then he would look at the journal before going exploring in the woods for new creatures.

That's when he would realize that he was still trapped in his unhappy home and the happy days of his childhood were now long gone.

Dipper quietly swallowed back a sob as he focused his attention back on the blackboard.

He started to feel his mind wondering again when he felt his teacher ram his ruler on the boy's desk.

"Young man! Do you find my lecture to be boring?!" The teacher growled.

Dipper jolted up in a panic as the other kids started laughing.

"N-N-No sir! I haven't been feeling well, lately!" He said in a nervous tone.

The teacher stared up and down at the boy before scoffing.

"You look perfectly fine to me. If you ask me it seems you probably are staying up too late playing computer games when you should sleeping or least studying."

"But sir, you don't know what's going on..."

"Excuses... Excuses... That's what students like you say all the time." The teacher sighed with disdain.

All of the children were laughing as Dipper sunk deeper into his chair.

The bell ending the class finally rang.

"All right class, ready pages 56 through 80 for tomorrow." Said the teacher as the kids began to walk out of the classroom.

Dipper was about to make a break for it when his teacher called out to him.

"Dipper!? I would like to have a word with you!" The teacher ordered.

The boy felt nervous as remained glued in his chair.

Once the other kids were gone, his teacher came towards and sat on top of one of the desks ahead of the boy.

"Young man, this is the third time you've been dosing off in my class." The teacher growled.

"I'm sorry sir. I really haven't been feeling all that good." Dipper tried to protest.

"Well if you haven't been feeling while then why haven't you gone to the doctor?"

"Because, I don't think that a doctor is going to solve my problem. I just need someone to talk to." The boy said, hoping his teacher would finally get the message.

His teacher stuck his nose up.

"I think it would be for your own good if I gave your mother a call so she can straighten you out."

Dipper felt his heart sink. If his teacher told his mother this, then he was definitely going back to the doctor.

"Please don't call my mom!" He begged, sobbing. "I promise I'll do my best to change my habits! I swear!"

His teacher stared at him for a few minutes before speaking again.

"I'll think about it. In the meantime, you'd better head to your next class. You're already late as it is."

Dipper started walking out.

"Just please don't tell my parents! I don't need anymore shame put upon me!" He whimpered.

"Well maybe that wouldn't be the case if you handled yourself a little better." His teacher said in a rather condescending way.

The boy didn't say anymore when he bolted from the classroom.

Teachers were supposed to make the learning environment a happy and safe place; they weren't supposed to be bullies as well.

The rest of the morning seemed to be a complete blur for him. He would just sit in his classes and stare blankly into space; wondering if he should runaway and never return. Who would miss him, anyway? No would care; they probably wouldn't even notice if he was gone.

During his science class the teacher had given students a free study period; letting the kids work on their science homework or whatever. Dipper tried to look in his book, but he would keep fading out as he worried about the thought of his homeroom teacher calling his mother about him falling asleep in class. He knew exactly what would happen. His mother would then call his father who would then berate him and make him feel lower than anything else.

Dipper felt his eyes water as he saw the whole scene play out in his mind.

"Dipper?!" His teacher called.

The boy jumped in the air.

"Yeah!?" He asked, jittery.

"Can I have a world with you out in the hall?" She asked.

Dipper tried hard not to cry as all the kids in the room began to laugh at him.

"In trouble, again." Someone laughed. "Man your parents are going to kill you."

He lowered his head as he walked out into the hall.

The teacher closed the door before she developed a look of concern on her face.

"Dipper... Are you all right?" She asked.

"I'm fine... Why are you asking?" He asked, feeling very unnerved.

"Your eyes have been really bloodshot lately and it looks like you've barely slept and dropped a good amount of weight. I'm just worried is all?" She said, softly.

Dipper smiled. Someone did care.

"Is everything all right at home?" She asked.

Dipper wanted to tell her all about what his parents thought of him, but he could only shake his and say.

"Everything's fine. I've just had trouble sleeping."

His teacher frowned a little.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes."

The bell rang to end the class.

Dipper went to grab his things before his teacher approached him again.

"Dipper... If anything is bothering you, you're more than welcome to drop by my office anytime to talk. Okay?" She said, smiling softly.

"Thank you?" Dipper said in a tiny voice.

He ran off again as thought about what his science teacher had said.

"She said I could come and talk to her anytime I wanted." He frowned deeply as he thought about it more. "But what is there to talk about? If I tell her everything that's bothering me, she would probably tell my parents as well; and that would land me a seat in the doctor's office for sure."

The Pine boy stared at his watch to see that it was time for lunch, but he found himself not feeling hungry at all. He just wanted to go somewhere to be alone for a little bit.

Dipper snuck back to his hiding place under the bleachers as he felt his watering again.

"Why does everyone treat me this way?" He whimpered to himself as tears fell from his chalky face.

His solitude was broken when he felt someone sit beside him. Dipper didn't flinch as he knew who it was, he always knew.

"Man teachers aren't really any better than the kids are they?" The dream demon chuckles slightly before he noticed Dipper's weepy expression.

"What's bothering you, kiddo?" Bill asked, smiling softly.

"My parents are going to find that I've been dosing off in class!" Dipper sobbed. "They're going to shame me even more! They'll tell everyone I'm a problem, child; and everyone will judge me!" The boy buried his face into the demon's chest.

Bill held the crying boy as he began to gently stroke his hair.

"Shh... Calm down, Pine Tree. I'm here for you."

"I know that, but there is some hope. My science teacher told me that I could talk to her anytime I want; she really seemed concerned for me." Dipper said, smiling through his tears.

Bill frowned slightly. He had the entire conversation between Dipper and his science teacher; and she was genuinely concerned about the boy. Which left the demon feeling threatened. If Dipper believed that anyone cared about him, then it would be harder for him to control the boy. He needed to keep the boy fragile and isolated. When Dipper was fragile and isolated, Bill could control him as he saw fit.

"But if you tried to tell her about your home problems, then she may call your parents, as well. Then what would happen? Your mother would more than likely spin her words and say tell her that you are just going through some things. Then they would turn the tables on you and say that you're being cold and selfish; and you know what will happen next?"

"But... but... she wouldn't do that... She would keep the conversation confidential... Wouldn't she?" Dipper asked, feeling nervous.

"Do you really think she would keep it a secret, Pine Tree?" Bill asked, staring deep in his eyes.

Dipper pulled himself away from the demon's grasp.

"I really think so!" The boy cried, angrily.

Bill frowned as he brushed his bangs back.

"Don't you trust me, Pine Tree?" He asked, his patience beginning to be tested.

"I do trust you, but I trust my teacher as well. Why are you acting all jealous?"

"I'm not jealous! I'm only trying to protect you is all!"

"I'm capable of taking care of myself, Bill. I wouldn't want to confide her if I knew she couldn't be trusted!"

Bill just seemed to glare at the boy's defiance.

Dipper dried his eyes before standing up.

"If your going to act like that, then you can just go and leave me alone!"

Bill watched as Dipper turned to leave when a sly smile crossed his pale face.

"Then what happens if I leave you and this teacher's of yours sells you done the river?" He purred.

Dipper felt his blood freeze; the demon was right.

The bell rang for his next class.

The boy felt his heart pound as he tried to make sense of things before he began to take off running.

Bill watched the poor boy run away in fear. Maybe he needed a little persuasion.

Dipper ran as fast he could to the gymnasium. His head hurt so bad that his was vision was blurring around him. He came to the stairs that would lead to the locker room. He stopped at the top to grab hold of his head. He desperately tried to keep it clear, he needed to keep calm.

Before he would realize what was going on, he felt someone grab him. He groggily turned to see Frankie was holding firmly holding the boy in his grasp, even with his broken leg. His smirked with his friends behind him.

"You think you got off easy when I fell down the steps, punk?!" He laughed.

Dipper cried as he tried to break away from the larger boy's grip.

"Well I think it's time I finished what I planned to do at the park then."

The Pine boy cried as he tried to move, but his body had gone completely limp; and before Dipper could figure out why, he felt Frankie throw the boy down the stairs.

It only lasted for about 15 seconds but it the tumble felt like an eternity. His body rammed against the marble steps before it came to a crash halt on the hard floor.

His body was in agonizing pain; his arm had been yanked out of his socket and he wouldn't have been surprised if he had broken several ribs as well.

Dipper tried to move, but only moving an inch wasn't possible.

"DIPPER!" Came the screaming voice of Mabel before she ran down the stairs to cradle her brother in her arms.

Kids gathered around to see what had happened staring and pointing at the boy.

One of the gym teachers cut between the crowd of children.

"What happened here?!" He demanded.

"He fell." Said one of the kids.

"Help...me...!" Dipper sobbed in pain.

"Someone call an ambulance!" The gym teacher ordered.

A few hours later, Dipper was sitting in the emergency room as he lay on the bed of the room he was forced to temporarily stay while the doctors had taken some X-Rays to see if Dipper had more serious injuries then they knew of.

The doctors had managed to snap his arm back in place and had wrapped it up and placed it inside a sling to heal.

Bill had been with him the entire time and held the crying boy in his arms assuring him that the boy would be safe as long as he trusted him.

Dipper cried and apologized for being selfish and foolish.

The demon smiled smugly.

While he somewhat had a soft spot for the boy, seeing the boy delving into his own isolation and madness was so hilarious and satisfying. Soon he would have his own little toy to bend and play with. The demon shivered with delight as he thought about all the destruction he could cause with his little toy.

Dipper remained alone and ignorant as he rested his head against the demon chest. The demon that was more of a father to him than the one he had. The demon that would dry his tears when he cried. The only one who cared about him.

Dipper was taken out of his little world when the nurse began knocking on his door.

Dipper shot his head up as she walked in.

"Well Dipper, you're very lucky. With the exception of a broken arm and several bruised ribs, you're perfectly fine."

Dipper tried to sigh in relief but just remained rigid.

"You'll be able to go home soon, you're parents are preparing to check you out."

Dipper was more than thrilled that he was able to go home.

There was another knock on the door when the two saw his mother standing at the door.

The nurse sighed.

"I'll leave you two alone." She walked out.

Dipper looked at his mother to see her frowning at him.

"I made an appointment for you to see Dr. Harkin first thing Saturday morning." She says emotionlessly. "What were you thinking, throwing yourself down the stairs like that? You could have killed yourself."

Dipper eyes widened.

"I was pushed down the stairs!" He cried.

"That's not what Mabel and the other children are saying. They said that you were about to jump when one of the boys tried to grab you but you broke free an threw yourself down."

"But Mom, that boy threw me...!"

"Dipper stop it! You're going to see Dr. Harkin and that's that!" She scolded.

The nurse came back.

"You guys are free to go." She smiled. She left.

"Come on, honey, let's go home." His mother said, gently kissing his forehead.

Dipper stared at his mother with glassy eyes.

"Honey... We're only doing this for your own good. We want to find a way to help you. Okay?" She said, softly.

Dipper only nodded.

His mother sighed as she helped him put his coat on before they walked out of the hospital to head home.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Dipper sat silently inside the waiting room of the doctor's office.

He tried everything he could to avoid coming back here; but it was only inevitable that he would be back here. His parents couldn't and didn't want to understand him; so the only way to fix that supposed problem was to send to doctor to try to come up with an idea that could be wrong with him.

The boy firmly believed that he was fine, but he needed to convince the doctor that his parents were forcing him to talk otherwise.

The lady at the front desk called his name.

"Dipper Pines! Dr. Harkin is ready for you!"

Dipper breathed deeply as he followed the woman behind to one of the many different offices in the back. She stopped at the corner office near the back of the one hallway. Opening the door, the boy could see the large office that contained a large oak desk in the back by the large windows. A couple of comfy chairs and a lounge couch in the one corner, and a large bookcase in the other corner.

"Have a seat wherever you like. The doctor will be with you shortly." The lady closed the door.

Dipper had a seat in one of the chairs in one of the chairs by the large desk. His body was trembling at the thought of relaying all of his thoughts to a complete stranger that was being pain a large amount to listen to things that he could barely relate to. To then give some explanation as to what his problem was before pumping his system full of medication that he may or may not have needed.

The boy sighed as he watched a small little bird flying outside the window.

"I wish I could just fly away like you." He smiled sadly.

There was a knock on the door before Dr. Harkin came into the office.

There wasn't anything special about the doctor. He was just a man in his late forties or early fifties with thick curly grey hair and beard to match; and he was simply dressed in a wool grey sweater and some grey suit pants.

"Hello Dipper, nice to meet you again." The man said, extending his hand out for the boy to take.

Dipper only nodded as he shook the man's hand.

Dr. Harking sat down at his desk.

"Your mother tells me that you've been having some issues for quite awhile. She claims that it may have had something to do with your summer vacation at great uncle's house up in Oregon. Is this true?"

Dipper only sat there as he watched the grey clouds dancing outside the window.

"Dipper did you spend the summer up in Oregon?" Dr. Harkin asked, raising his voice slightly.

"Yeah..." He said, quietly.

"Did you have fun?"

"It was the best summer I ever had. I made some great friends."

"Like who?"

"There was Soos. He worked at my great uncle's tourist destination called the Mystery Shack. He was like an older brother to me and my sister. Then there was Wendy..." Dipper seemed to turn a deep shade of red.

"Was this Wendy a girl you may of had a crush on?"

Dipper blush a wild shade of red.

"Umm... I guess, but nothing could ever come of it. She's fifteen and I'm only thirteen, but even now, it's hard not to think about her; and thanks to her I became friends with her group, and for the first time, I felt like I actually belonged. I felt like Gravity Falls is where I'm supposed be, not here."

Dr. Harkin tapped his pencil lightly before speaking.

"I understand that you had an incident at school involving you going on about some events that may have taken place this summer?"

Dipper wanted to scream at the doctor about everything that had happened this summer; but if the kids didn't believe him, what made him think that the doctor would, either?

"I-I-I..." He couldn't say anything.

"Young man, I'm afraid that I have to side with your parents. You're getting to be much to old about going on about the supernatural and these fantasies that you had. You know very well that none of that is true; and that you pulled your little charade to get yourself attention. Attention that wasn't very good, right?"

Dipper nodded.

"You claim that people made fun of you when you are the primary reason for that problem. It's all right to enjoy those type of things when you know that it's just for fun, but it's not okay when you're trying to pass it off as real when you know very well that it's not." Dr. Harkin said, firmly looking into the boy's eyes.

"B-b-but..." Dipper protested.

"You need to start growing up Dipper. Otherwise you will never be happy."

Bill was listening to conversation outside the door.

He grinned as he saw isolated Dipper was at that very moment. Soon the boy wouldn't be able to escape from him; even if he tried.

"Now Dipper I want to try something with you. Have you ever been hypnotized?" The doctor asked.

Dipper paled as he shook his head.

Dr. Harkin smiled.

"Oh there's nothing to worry to about; all I'm going to do is put you into a deep sleep. From there I can communicate to you through yourself self conscious to see why you are having all these issues and how we can help you fix them.

Bill grinned in delight.

It was finally show time.

Dr. Harkin brought out an old watch that was attached to a dangling chain before he began to slowly sway it back and forth in front of Dipper's eyes.

"Look closely at the watch Dipper, your body should start to relax as you deepen your gaze. Are you relaxing?"

Dipper could his whole body relaxing for the first in God knew how long.

"You'll slowly feel your eyelids become very heavy. You're becoming very sleepy."

Dipper tried very hard to keep his eyes open, the relaxing movement of staring at the watch was causing the boy to slowly start to drift off. Then after a short amount of time, the boy was in a deep sleep.

"Now Dipper I'm going to ask you some questions and you'll just have to answer them."

The boy remained still.

"Now what possessed you to believe that everything you happened to see this summer was real?"

No response.

"Dipper I need you to give me an answer!"

Dipper remained completely still, almost as if he were dead.

"DIPPER?!" The doctor cried, angrily.

Within that moment however, Dipper's eyes shot open. Only now they were an ominous looking yellow.

The doctor was rather surprised by this.

"Dipper?" He asked, confused.

The boy laughed in a voice that was not his own.

"Dipper isn't here right now, but you can talk to me all you want!" The being said.

"Then if you're not Dipper, then who are you?" The doctor asked with interest.

The boy or whatever was speaking through him bowed.

"The name's Bill Cipher." He said.

"Well then, Bill... How did you come into contact with him?"

"Oh that's simple, I simply followed Pine Tree, back home. Poor kid was so sad and lonely; so I offered him some fatherly affection. You know since his own parents seem to think he's a failure and all."

"That's not true in the slightest. Parents can be tough on their children sometimes, but that's because they want there child to be the best they can be."

Bill... or Bipper only grinned in his psychotic manner.

"Oh believe me, beardy, I was there. I heard the exact words come out of there mouth. There is no way Pine Tree could twist those words even if he tried."

Dr. Harkin continued to stare.

"So how exactly did you come into existence? Are you a personality that he created?"

Bipper laughed manically.

"Yeah! Pine Tree could come up with someone as dazzling as me! I'm not a personality at all. I'm a dream demon."

"A dream demon?"

"Yeah! I can get inside your mind when you dream and learn all about you. In the mindscape, there isn't anything I can't see."

"Why did you decide to latch on to Dipper?"

"Like I said, I followed him from Gravity Falls, I offered to give him parental affection that he feels that Charlie and Mary aren't giving him; and I've been doing a great job at it. Which is why everything is going as I see fit." Bipper grinned, smugly.

"What do you mean?" Dr. Harkin asked.

"I have plans for my Little Pine Tree!"

"What kind of plans?"

"Well, since he had to get in my way and ruin everything I believe retribution is in order."

"I don't understand." Dr. Harkin said looking in deep into Bipper's ominous orbs.

"My proper choice of punishment is to completely isolate Pine Tree from everybody that he knows; and once that is complete, I will then have my own little toy to cause mischief with. But since I'm talking to you now, it's already started to begin." The dream demon laughed, insanely.

Dr. Harkin frowned before he began writing on his notepad.

"I think I know now what the problem is with Dipper."

"Well I guess we all figured out something new today, didn't we?!" The demon grinned.

"I'm going to wake up Dipper now. Thank you for giving me the proper information I needed."

"No Problem! Oh and remember... REALITY IS AN ILLUSION THE UNIVERSE IS A HOLOGRAM BUY GOLD BYE!" (I had to add that some where in the fic :P)

Dr. Harkin quickly snapped his fingers to cause Dipper to wake up screaming. His chest was pounding a mile a minute.

"What happened?!" He demanded, not having any knowledge of what had taken place.

"It's over Dipper... I think I know what the problem is."

"What is it?" The boy asked.

"I think that a very worried about disappointing your parents; and sometimes you may even go so far as to think you actually hear your parents say that they are ashamed of you. So you try to hide away alone so no one can hurt you."

Dipper wanted to protest as he had heard his parents exact words. He couldn't twist them around.

But he decided to keep his mouth shut so he could leave soon.

"The problem is your filled with lots of anxiety and maybe your fantasies about the supernatural and wanting to express it are ways you think will help you cope; but when you were ridiculed for your childish claims. Your anxiety was pushed higher and higher."

Dipper only sat there as he tried to calm his pounding chest. What was going on?

The doctor began writing something on a small piece of paper.

"I'm going to put you on something that should help with your anxiety." He handed it to him. "Once you start taking it, I'm pretty sure you'll be more at ease and you may even start sleeping better again." He smiled, handing the boy the paper

"Thanks..." Dipper said, drily.

"I believe our time is up for today, but I would like to meet again two weeks from today to see how you are adjusting."

The boy nodded as stood up to leave.

"Goodbye Dipper. See you again soon."

He only grunted before he ran out of the room.

What had happened when he had gone into that trance? Was it something he said or did he do something weird? Did Bill appear before the doctor and put his two cents in?

He shook his head roughly before he walked back into the waiting room to see his mother waiting for him.

"So what happened?" She asked.

"He gave me prescription for some medicine that is supposed to help with anxiety and he wants me to come to in two weeks to see who I am doing." He answered.

His mother hugged him.

"See don't you feel so much better?" She asked.

"I guess." Was all he said.

"Come on, honey. We're going to go do some shopping at the mall. Maybe some new clothes will help as well."

Dipper sighed as he walked out of the doctor's office to join his sister in the car.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Dipper stared deeply into the bathroom mirror. His body and mind were both lacking in peace and health. His eyes demanded sleep while his body demanded proper nutrients.

He looked down at his hand to see the bottle of anxiety pills that had just been prescribed to him just a few hours before. Pills that would help relax him and maybe even allow to experience a proper night's rest again.

But would the pills really changed anything? Would they change the way his parents thought of him? Would it change how apart he and Mabel had grown? Would it change the fact that Stan, Soos, Wendy and all of Gravity were now just a distant memory.

Dipper popped open the bottle before taking out the little green pill.

Nothing would change at all; but if he could numb the pain, then maybe the pills wouldn't be so bad after all. The pills would help him slip by; and if nothing else, he always had Bill to comfort him. That was something, wasn't it?

Making up his mind, Dipper swallowed the tiny pill in one gulp before taking a swig from his water bottle.

Satisfied that he had finally done what he needed to do, he decided to rejoin Mabel and his mother at the food court.

He walked amongst the dozens of people that were crowded to together in the numerous areas of the food court. Normally he would have started to become nervous and on edge, but the affects of the pill were starting to kick in a lot faster than he thought. It then wouldn't be long until he saw his mother and sister sitting at one of the numerous tables.

"Did you take you pill?" His mother asked.

"Yes..." He replied in a rather mellow voice.

"So how do you feel?"

"More relaxed, I guess." Was all he said.

"Don't you feel more at ease with yourself now sweetheart?"

"I guess so..." Dipper sighed, sounding so faraway.

Mabel stared at her brother with said eyes. It made her angry that Dipper was being forced to take medication to turn him into something he wasn't. She knew Dipper wasn't crazy at all; but what could she do? Even if she tried to tell everyone that Dipper wasn't crazy, it wouldn't be long until she would have been sitting in the doctor's office beside him; and that was something she did not want at all.

Guilt drove her crazy everyday for not coming to her brother defense back at the gymnasium. She wished she could go back in time and step in. However she would step in to stick up for her brother, not to back up his claims.

As much as she had fun in Gravity Falls this summer, things had to go back to the way they were; and sadly, Dipper couldn't seem to accept that after all this time; and because of that, his mind would never be free. Which was why her brother was now in this sedated state of mind.

Dipper absently turned his head to look out the window. The world around seemed completely cold and empty, almost as if someone had a bucket of ice cold water and dumped it on the world. Leaving it a cold and grey mess of sadness; and for the first time in his life, he didn't care."

He yawned as he felt his eyes start to droop, but was startled awake when his mother called his name.

"Dipper I wanted to know if you wanted to go see a movie?" She asked.

"No... I really don't want to." He said, quietly.

"Well your sister and I are going to go see one. If you're not, then we can meet up by the escalators in a couple of hours."

"Fine..." Dipper slurred.

"See you later then." His mother started walking off.

Mabel was about leave when she turned back towards her brother.

"Bro bro... Are you okay?" She asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?" He asked.

"You just don't seem like yourself is all... You really don't need to take those pills, you know. You can just hide them under your tongue and then spit them out when Mom and Dad aren't looking." Mabel said, smiling a little.

Dipper just shrugged his shoulders.

"Dipper...?"

"Yeah...?"

"For what it's worth, I'm really sorry... For everything..."

Dipper smiled sadly.

"I know..."

"MABEL ARE YOU COMING?!" Their mother called after her.

Mabel stared at her brother as she wondered if she should just hang with him instead. From the looks of it, he needed her more then their mother did.

"Go ahead and go..." Dipper said, quietly.

"Bro bro...?" Mabel asked, confused.

"I don't want to have to hang with me because you feel that you have to."

"But I want to hang with you Dipper!" Mabel frowned.

Dipper frowned at his sister.

"Do you really?" His said in a rather angry voice.

"What's your problem?!" She demanded, feeling quite hurt by that.

"You wouldn't understand... He told me none me none of you would understand..."

"Dipper...? What are you talking about...?" Mabel asked.

"Nothing...? I'll see you later?" He walked away.

"Dippper?! Talk to me!"

Realizing that her brother wasn't going to come back, she ran off to join her mother.

Dipper walked around the mall in a exhausted haze; everything around him seemed so far away and he needed to find a place where he could just lay his head down, even if it were for five or ten minutes.

After walking for a few more minutes he himself nearing a Brookstone, and through the window he could see one of those massage chairs that he could lean back in.

The boy smiled in great contain; he could finally get some sleep, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Dipper ran inside the store and climbed into the relaxing message chair.

The boy turned the chair to begin messaging his entire body and would be long before the boy had fallen into a deep sleep.

It had been about almost an hour later and the boy was still asleep inside the chair and one of the other customer's was beginning to get upset as he wanted to have a turn in the chair.

The salesgirl not wanting to cause any trouble decided to awaken the boy as politely as she could.

"Excuse me, sweetie?" She said, gently shaking him. "You've been laying in the chair for almost an hour and there's another customer waiting. So I'm going to need you to get up now."

Dipper remained frighteningly still.

"Young man... I need you to get up now..." She said shaking him again.

Again Dipper didn't even stir.

The salesgirl shook a bit harder, worried that there was something wrong with the boy.

"Young man, are you all right?!" She asked, rather scared.

But within that moment however, the insane yellow eyes had shot open. Bipper was back in control.

"Yeah... Yeah... I heard you the first time." Bipper sneered.

The demon attempted to get out of the chair but ended up tripping and crashing to the ground face first.

The salesgirl cried out in shock.

"ARE YOU OKAY?!" She screamed.

Bipper rose his head up revealing a bloody nose and a psychotic smile.

"I've never felt better, lady! I feel invigorated!" Bipper laughed insanely.

The woman just stared in awestruck horror as she watched the deranged boy walk out of the store.

Bipper walked around the mall as he looked around at all of the people that were browsing in the many different stores.

"Man, people really seem to enjoy blowing there load on things they really don't need. Then again, if anyone had more money than they knew what to do with, I guess spending it is the only way to feel accomplishment of earning it. Only to feel distressed and enraged when those notices come from card companies about unpaid bills. Humans really are an interesting breed." He mused to himself.

He looked down at his host's arms.

"I really want to break something... Or maybe cause a little bit of collateral damage to Pine Tree. Nothing for him to question me about, but enough for me to get my fix. Just have to be careful this time."

Bipper found himself walking into a store that seemed to cater to European styles at affordable prices.

Going inside he seemed to notice a shirt that said: I've got my eye on you."

The demon broke into a fit of laughter.

"Ha... Ha.. That's so funny! Because if you really think about, there is so much truth to that statement! At least from my perspective. You know what I'm saying, guy?!" He grinned to the man that seemed to be placing clothes on a display table, giving the safe assumption that the guy probably worked there.

The man just stared at Bipper with unnerved expression.

"Is there anything I can help you find, sir?' He asked, trying to not lose his cool around the bizarre boy.

"Yeah.. I want to bedazzle myself... Help me find something that doesn't look so boring. Seriously Pine Tree you need a new wardrobe." Bipper sighed.

The salesman stared.

"Um... Are we talking a trendy teenager style or are we talking more: "I want to dress more older than I should?" He asked, being half sarcastic.

"I would like to with option B; I mean who wear just this?" Bipper grinned.

The salesman stared in complete shook at the boy's strange behavior.

"Kid you're kinda messed in the head."

"Yeah! What's your point?" The demon asked, as if everything was completely normal.

"Never mind just follow me." The man said, irritated.

About 20 minutes later, Bipper was inside the dressing room, trying on all the different clothes. All while laughing and making bizarre comments on everything. Even having a five minute laughing fit about t-shirt that had a picture of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as he wondered how turtles could be ninjas or teenagers.

The salesman was growing more and more annoyed with the demon's antics as he knocked on the door.

"What's going on in there?!" He demanded.

Bipper opened the door, wearing a yellow shirt and some black skinny pants.

"What do you think this says about me?" He asked.

"I don't know! I can't read your mind!" He growled.

"Well what if I told you I could read yours...?" Bipper said, in a rather sinister voice.

"I would just say that you're just acting like a smartass!" The man growled reaching the end of his patience.

"Then what if I told you that I knew that you liked this girl in your Psychology class and wanted to ask her out on a date, but you don't have the courage. Not because you're afraid of your looks or your personality; but because you're still a virgin. The fact that you want to save yourself for marriage and she'll think you're a wimp for that." Bipper explained, his eyes seemed to shine in a dark glow.

The young man back up slowly as his face began to pale.

"How... How did you know that?!" He demanded.

"I know a lot more than the average person... You could say that I'm knowing!"

The man stared at Bipper in horror.

"That's none of your concern you little shit!" He growled.

"What if I told you what that girl really thought of you? Or what if I told you what your future was going to be like; or the exact date of when you die?"

"You're crazy! You're not right in the head!" The man said as he was slowly being reduced to tears.

Bipper stared at his reflection in the mirror before he slammed his fist into the mirror. Smiling in pleasure as blood leaked from the wound.

"Yeah! But I've felt so alive!" He laughed.

The manager came running when she heard the sound of the punch.

"What's going on in here?" She asked.

Bipper was about to speak when he felt himself being jolted out of his host. Dipper had finally woken up.

"I... what am I doing here?" He asked, looking confused. "Why is my hand bleeding?

"You know exactly what you did!" The salesman growled.

"I don't know what you're talking about! The last thing I remember was falling asleep at Brookstone; and then the next thing I knew was finding myself standing here."

"I'm lost here." The manager said, just as confused.

Dipper turned slightly to see Bill admiring himself in the mirror. Happily fluffing out his hair and properly adjusting the eye patch on his face.

"But... But..." The salesman tried to protest.

"Never mind... It seems that has been a huge confusion and misunderstanding. So to make up for the fact, we'll let you have the items that you brought to the dressing room for no charge."

"Uhh... Thanks..." Was all the boy could say.

"Again I apologize for any inconvenience. I'll leave you to gather everything up." The woman was gone.

Dipper began to gather his new clothes when the salesman spoke to him again.

"So why this girl ever like me?" He asked in a small voice.

"What girl?" Dipper asked, confused.

"The girl that you knew I knew."

"Dude! I don't know what you're talking about! I really don't know what's going on here!" The boy said, in a frightened voice.

The man only stared at him one last time before walking away.

Dipper shot a look in Bill's direction.

"Bill...?" He asked feeling rather angry.

The dream grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah... Sorry about that Pine Tree. It's that you fell into that deep sleep that Someone needed to get you up and moving, you didn't even respond to the girl waking you up you were so far gone."

"What exactly happened with that guy; and why was he asking me all these questions and accusing me of things?

Bill whipped his hair back before he thought of an answer.

"That guy? Well he was bullying you, Pine Tree." The demon lied.

"Bullying me?"

"Yes.. He was saying all this mean stuff about how you're a dork and what not. So I had to retaliate by reading his mind and putting that meat head in his place. But from all that, you got some great new clothes to add to your wardrobe."

"You mean to say that you handled a bully in my honor?" Dipper asked, a little shocked.

"I would do anything for you, Pine Tree. Not even your father would do what I did." Bill smiled, although it was more deranged than genuine. Dipper didn't notice however.

"Thank you... But why is my hand bleeding?" He asked.

Bill laughed a little.

"Sorry, Pine Tree. I must have gotten a little carried away."

Dipper decided to let it slide.

The boy finally walked out of the store when he noticed Mabel and their mother walking toward them.

"There you are, Dipper. We've been looking all over for you." Mary said.

"Where were you?" Mabel asked.

"I got some knew clothes." Dipper said, showing them the free purchases.

Mabel frowned.

"But these are clothes that you don't usually wear. What's going on with you?" She asked.

"Nothing's wrong. Mom always says that I need new clothes so here we are."

"Well I'm glad, I'm finally starting to get through to you; but I think it's time that we should start heading home now.

"Yeah I'm tired." Dipper said, yawning.

Dipper and his mother started walking off while Mabel stayed behind.

Dipper wasn't behaving like his normal self and it was really starting to scare her. Maybe something deeper was going on.

"Maybe there is more to the story than Dipper being to depressed." She thought to herself.

Bill watched Mabel's thinking eyes. He needed her to stay absent minded, or she was just going to cause problems. Just like before.

"Who am I kidding? Maybe Dipper's going through a phase. Neither one of us have been ourselves lately. I'm probably thinking too much into then I should."

She sighed heavily as she ran to join them. Leaving the dream demon to smile sinisterly.

"Stay naïve, Shooting Star. Stay naïve."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

The evening was rather quiet for the Pines family.

Dipper and Mabel were sitting at the dinner table finishing up their supper in silence while their parents were talking about random things that had happened that day. Which was more or less about Dipper finally being put on the medication that supposedly would have him behave in more calm docile matter.

"Well Dipper, hopefully with this new prescription that Dr. Harkin put you on, we hope to see a new improvement in your behavior. Am I correct?" His father asked, with a domineering look on his face.

"Yes sir..." Dipper said, quietly. Not feeling like himself at all.

Mabel only sat there as she watched her brother. He was changing right before her hazel eyes; and it was scaring her to no end.

The telephone started to ring when their mother went to answer it.

Mabel lightly tapped her brother's shoulder to get his attention.

"Bro bro... Are you okay?" She asked, almost as if she was talking to a boy she never met before in her life; and not her brother and best friend.

Dipper just shrugged his shoulders as he simply drew pictures within his food.

"Dipper stop playing with your food!" His father angrily scolded.

"But Dad, don't you think you're being to hard on him?" Mabel asked with concerned eyes.

"Honey if we're not hard on your brother, then what's to become of him?"

The pine girl was about to protest when their mother came back into the room.

"Mabel... Someone is on the phone for you." She said.

Mabel jumped out of her chair before she went to the living room to take the call.

Dipper remained still the entire time. His family felt like complete strangers to him. Even though now he was docile the way his parents wanted him to be, they still were going to criticize every little thing he did. If he didn't go on about everything he experienced or felt, then his parents were going to point the flaws in his school work or presentation or the simple things he liked to day. His father still relentlessly teased about singing in the shower to Disco Girls. The man right in front of him would never defend or comfort him the way Bill did.

"DIPPER?!" Came his father's angry roar, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"WHA...?!" He cried, startled.

"Did you listen to anything I just say... I asked you why your mother found your fist bleeding earlier this afternoon." The man sighed in annoyance.

Dipper looked at his damaged hand. They wouldn't understand even if he told them everything.

"I fell..." Was all the boy said.

"How could you cut your hand like that from a fall?!" Charlie demanded.

"I don't know!" Dipper shouted back.

His father looked at him in shock that his son had raised his voice to him. The nerve of him to do such a thing when he clothed, fed and sheltered him for all of the thirteen years he had existed.

"DON'T YOU DARE RAISE YOUR FACE TO ME, YOU LITTLE INGRATE!" His father roared in a pure rage.

"Dad... I'm sorry..." The frightened boy tried to apologize.

Before things could get even more ugly, Mabel walked back into the room.

"Mom, Dad a bunch of us are planning to go meet up in about an hour. Can I go?" She asked.

"Well... I don't see why not..." She said, quietly.

"Take your brother with you... I do not want him in the house right now..." His father demanded in low angry voice.

Mabel looked at her brother wondering what had happened to make their father this angry.

"Come on Dipper..." She said, nervously pulling her twin away from the table.

The two were putting their coats on when their father called out to them one more time.

"Enjoy yourself while you can Dipper, because by the time you get back, I will have decided your punishment." His father growled.

"They don't love you, Pine Tree... They love Shooting Star more than anything else in the world, but they don't love you..." The demon's voice seemed to purr within the walls of his mind.

Dipper grabbed his hair in frustration as let out an angry cry. It would never be enough for them would it?

The walk wherever the twins were going had been silent for the most part; but what really was there to say? The two were so far apart now that it was completely unfixable. Mabel was perfect according to their parents, but when they looked at him, they only shame and disappoint. Dipper had done all that he could to make both his parents and his sister happy, sacrificing even his ambitions and happiness. But did the boy get anything in return? No! He never had and he never did.

Why should he be sorry and ashamed all of the time. He could remember distinctively back in Gravity Falls when Dipper wanted to go to a party with Wendy and Robbie. The problem had been at the time that Robbie had teased Dipper about trick or treating that Dipper had felt self conscious and decided to stay behind and go to the party instead. He had only been forced to go trick or treating when he and Mabel's friends had accidently angered the Summerween Trickster and were forced to collect 500 pieces of candy. Which would have worked out until Dipper had accidently lost the candy when he hid the candy when Wendy and Robbie rode by and Mabel had heard the entire conversation; and naturally was furious.

It all worked out in the end, but Dipper couldn't but think that Mabel had the nerve to get mad at him, when he would always put everything on hold for her whether for her happiness or her well being; and not once did she ever do anything for him in return.

Bill was right, neither his parents or his sister and supposed best friend ever gave a shit about his feelings or happiness. They just wanted a doll to control.

The boy was broken out of his thoughts when they saw a group of kids crowding around in the park.

The two ran to the group but the stopped when they saw kids were staring at Dipper.

"Mabel why the hell did you bring your brother here?" One of the girls demanded, as she glared at the boy.

The Pine shrugged.

"I really didn't have much of a choice; my parents made me bring him. Apparently he angered our dad causing him to get kicked out.

"Well he can't come with us. He'll have to wait here until we're done." One the boys simply said.

"But I can't leave him... I promise that he won't be a problem." The Pine girl tried to explain.

"Either you leave him here, or you both can go home. It's your choice Mabel; but why would you want to hang around him? All he does is cramp your style and hold you back."

Mabel stared deeply at Dipper. While Dipper was her brother and she loved him very much, her friends were right.

"Dipper... Just sit on the bench and wait for me until we're done." She said, her voice void of emotion.

The Pine boy stared at his sister in heartbreaking shock.

"But... Mabel... I..." He tried to keep back tears.

"Look Dipper, I'm not going to sacrifice my good time because you had to piss Dad off!" She growled.

"But..." He wanted to scream at her about all of the things he had done for her and all of the sacrifices he was forced to make, but he couldn't say a word.

"I'll wait here..." He finally said, defeated.

"Come on let's go!" One of the other boys called out as the kids started only God knew where.

Mabel hung back for a few seconds, giving Dipper a small amount of hope that she wouldn't leave him.

But she only sighed annoyingly before she took off to join her friends, leaving the boy alone in the park.

Dipper sat on the bench with his hands folded in his lap. How could she do this to him? How could she just leave him to sit alone in a park in the middle of evening, with the possibility of getting mugged or worse?

Dipper reached into his coat and pulled out a book and a flashlight. He figured since he might be here for awhile he would to try and catch up on reading some of his Game of Thrones novels.

It was about an hour as the boy continued to read through his book, but he suddenly found his head starting to become heavy again. He was starting to become very tired again and wanted to lay down on the bench and take a nap.

But he shook his head profusely; he didn't know what could happen to him in the dark, and that was a risk he was not willing to take. He would wait for Mabel to come back and then he would sleep all he wanted when he got home. How much longer could the kids be gone for?

An hour and a half had passed by and the group of kids had not come back yet.

Dipper checked his watched to see that it was almost ten p.m. He shook his head as exhausted waned deeper on his mind.

The twins curfew was at midnight, and they would get in trouble if they were even a second late, but he figure his parents would yell at him more.

He tried to continue reading, but he could barely keep his head up anymore.

Dipper sprawled himself out on the bench. He would go to sleep but he would try to rest his body for the walk home, whenever that was going to be.

But as soon as his head touched the bench, his eyes closed instantly.

The boy's body remained in a complete stiffness for close to fifteen minutes before yellow glowing eyes opened.

Bipper looked around the darkened park as eyes glowed in the darkness. A sinister smile fluttering on his face.

"So they leave my little Pine Tree alone here with no one to talk to?" Bipper asked looking around.

"How very foolish of them, they might have gone unscathed had they not done this to him. Perhaps I should teach Shooting Star and her friends a little something about respect. Which means it's about time someone has a slight casualty."

The dream demon laughed as he went in the direction where he believed that the other kids went off to.

He walked for about ten minutes when he noticed that under a bridge some stone staircase leading down somewhere.

Grinning with delight, the demon threw himself down the stairs before he came crushing at the bottom. Laughing as the pain ran against his already broken arm.

"Pine Tree really can take a beating."

He stood up as he walked a little farther before he saw the there was a running waterway to the city that these kids seemed to create a hideout of. All of the kids were sitting around and were talking, eating snacks, reading magazines and listening to the radio.

Shooting Star and her friends had come down here to do absolutely nothing while Pine Tree was left alone on the bench.

Bipper thought for a moment. He really wanted to shed blood, but he would have to be careful that: one nobody saw him, and second that Dipper wasn't suspected either, if the boy was caught, then his toy would be locked away and he wouldn't be to cause mayhem anymore. So Pine tree couldn't be caught, not yet at least.

He wondered which one of the unfortunate young teens would be his victim.

One of the boys that actually looked like one of Frankie's goons stood up.

"Guys is there anything I can use to take a leak in?" He asked.

"Oh dude that's disgusting! Can't you just hold it?!" Frankie demanded.

"But I really have to go!" The boy whined.

"Then go in the waterway!" Frankie snarled.

"But wouldn't that be... I don't know...gross?" The boy protested.

"You can either go in the waterway or piss your pants, but you're not going in any of our stuff." Frankie threatened.

The boy fidgeted around before looking towards the waterway.

"I'll go in the waterway..." He sighed trying not to cry.

"Guy and do it where we can't see you. The last thing we need is are little hangout smelling like piss." Frankie growled.

The boy began walking off when Bipper smiled evilly.

This was the boy that was going to be his victim.

The boy ran off a quite a distance away when he found a far enough distance that he could finally do his business.

Getting close to the water the boy was about unzip his pants when he heard a sound from behind.

"H-H-Hello...? Is anyone there?" He asked in a tiny voice.

He was about to turn around when he felt someone grab him from behind.

The boy let out a scream of horror as tried to get whoever who had grabbed off of him.

But the stranger's grip was almost like iron. The boy was crying in fear wondering if he was going to die.

The boy turned around to look into his attacker's eyes to meet those horrifying yellow orbs of the familiar brown haired boy.

"DIPPER?!" He cried in horror. "PLEASE LET ME GO! YOU'RE HURTING ME!"

The boy spoke in a voice that was not his own.

"Good..." He purred, sinisterly. "I hope it hurts. I hope it hurts like a thousand knives."

The boy realized that Dipper or who he thought was Dipper had no intentions of letting him leave... Alive..."

Bipper began to drag the boy to the waterway.

"Dipper! What are you planning to do?! The boy cried.

Bipper neared the rushing waters with the boy's head nearly touching the water.

And the boy realized what he was planning to do.

"NO! PLEASE DIPPER! I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU SAY JUST DON'T DO THIS!" The boy screamed in one last attempt of mercy.

Bipper smiled, staring deeply into the boy's crying face.

"Enjoy your place in hell.." 

With that the demon threw the boy into the water; sending the boy screaming down the flowing waterways. With the last thing to hear was the rushing and the demon's horrifying laughter.

Bipper smiled satisfied with himself.

He decided to return to the park bench before anyone saw him.

He quietly crept out of the secret area and up the stairs before he found himself back at the park bench Dipper had been lying on.

He laid back down, all he had to do now was wait.

He slowly closed his yellow eyes and the body became still again.

After about five minutes, Dipper's eyes shot open as he jolted up, breathing heavily.

What had happened? All he remembered was that he was reading before he found lying down to rest his eyes. He must have fallen asleep.

Dipper checked his watch to see that it was now almost eleven thirty. His parents were going to kill him and Mabel.

"Where is she?!" He thought, angrily.

He sat on the bench for about another twenty minutes realizing that he was not going to curfew.

Angry he started walking towards the direction of the hideout when he saw the group coming back.

"WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?! Dipper growled. "DON'T YOU REALIZE WE'RE GOING TO BREAK CURFEW?!"

Mabel shrugged her shoulders.

"Sorry bro bro, but we lost track of time..."

"Richie went missing..." One of the girls said.

Dipper felt his eyes widened.

"What do you mean Richie went missing?" He asked, frightened.

"He went to go use the bathroom, but he never came back."

"How long was he gone?"

"Between a half an hour to forty five minutes at the least."

"But that doesn't explain what could have..." Dipper was cut off when they heard the sound something large plunging from below.

The group looked down towards a large reservoir to see something was floating around in there.

"What's down in there?" Mabel asked.

All the kids stared but refused to go look.

One boy stood rolling his eyes.

"If you're all to scared then I will go." He said.

The boy climbed down into the reservoir while all of the kids slowly went in after, staying tightly bunched together.

"What's in there?!" Frankie called after him.

The boy grabbed whatever was floating but jumped when he felt it with his hands. His eyes were wide with horror.

"Guys..." He tried to say.

"Just bring it here!" Frankie ordered.

The boy obeyed as he brought the thing back towards them; only the group was not prepared for what they were about to see.

The boy had brought them the dead body of Richie; more than likely drowning inside the waterways.

His skin was completely devoid of color and his face was twisted into a look of pure horror.

"OH MY GOD! RICHIE!" One of the girls screamed.

All of the kids began to cry and panic, not having a clue what to do.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?!" Said one.

"OUR PARENTS ARE GOING TO KILL US!" Said another.

"HOW THE HELL DID THIS EVEN HAPPEN?!"

All of the kids began pointing fingers while crying in horror at the thought of their schoolmate dying, but Dipper remained in the background. His eyes rested on Richie lifeless body. The poor boy's eyes were wide with horror as he wondered who this did this to him.

But that's when he realized, he already knew.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is where things really start to take a disturbing turn.

Chapter 12

The police were finishing up their investigation as they taped off the waterway and the reservoir.

From what they could tell, they believed that the unfortunate boy had tripped and fell into the water; and because of the rushing current, he wasn't able to escape or pull his head up to breathe, leading to his drowning.

Other police officers were questioning all of the kids that had been with the boy, but they all claimed that they only saw him walk to use the bathroom. Not once did they see him fall in.

Even the police got some words out of the kids, that would all just point fingers and accuse one another as why they were even done there in the first place.

Dipper sat on the bench as he stared down at his shaking hands.

He knew; he knew exactly what must have happened. Bill had taken possession of his body while he slept and must have followed everyone down into the waterways. He then saw Richie breakaway from the group, giving the demon the opportunity to stalk and kill him. There was no other explanation for it.

But even then, the boy needed the demon; he needed his father figure to stay and protect him from the cruelties of his family and peers. Without him, he would be helpless.

"Dipper are you insane?! The same demon that has possessed your body has killed someone!" The voice of his subconscious screamed.

"But I need him..." Dipper said to his subconscious. "He's the only one who cares about me..."

"He doesn't care about you at all! He just wants you to feel alone and helpless so he control you!" His subconscious protested.

"I don't have anybody... I don't even have Mabel..." The Pine boy said, trying not to cry.

"That's not true, Dipper. Mabel is your sister, and she loves you dearly. All you need to do is just tell her how you feel. She'll listen." His subconscious, said in a gentle voice.

"I've done so much for her, but I never got anything in return. I don't even know if she was ever grateful."

"But, Dipper... Didn't you fight a bunch of gnomes together side by side; and didn't she help you get you body when Bill possessed you in the first place?" His subconscious asked.

Dipper looked down.

"I..."

"You're the only one who can stop this nightmare, Dipper. So what are you going to do?" The voice of his subconscious died away.

The pine boy continued to look down at his lap before he noticed a police officer walking up to him.

"Come on, boy. I'm taking you and your sister home." The officer said.

"Thank you, but my sister and I don't live far from here. We can..."

"Young man, this is not a request, and I need to notify your parents about what's happened!" The officer, scolded. "You realize a young boy is dead?!"

"My parents are going to kill me!" Dipper protested.

"You should have thought of that, when guys came here! Now let's go!"

Dipper and Mabel sat in the back of the police car as they were slowly heading to their home. Both of them were terrified as to what there parents were going to say at the thought of a classmate dying. Dipper was at least grateful that foul play had been ruled out and the death had been marked as an accident. As far as they were all concerned, he was sitting on the bench in the park while all this happened. Only problem was how were his parents going to react to all of this.

Mabel sat on her side of the car occasionally having sobs escape from her throat from the horror of it all.

"Quit crying!" The officer scolded. "You kids have nobody to blame but yourselves!"

Dipper tried to gently place his hand on her shoulder, but was shocked when she flinched away. Giving him the assumption that she really didn't want any comfort right now.

The car finally pulled up to their driveway as they officer marched them to the front door.

"You really don't need to tell our parents about this." Dipper tried to protest. "We can tell them."

"I would prefer to tell them myself. Just so I know you won't give them an abriged version." The officer stated, coolly.

The officer then knocked on the door before Charlie answered the door wearing his pajamas.

"Do you two realize that it's almost two in the..." Their father stopped when he saw the police officer behind them.

"I'm sorry to disturb you sir, but are you Charlie Pines?" He asked.

"What's the matter?" He asked, his voice starting to become low.

"Honey what's going on?" Mary asked as she came to the front door. Stopping dead cold when she saw the officer.

"What's happened?!" She asked, sounding frightened. "Is anything wrong?!"

"Are you two aware that your children were hanging around the waterways under the bridge in the park?" The officer asked.

"I knew they went out, but I didn't know they went there. Did something happen?" Charlie asked.

"Unfortunately... One of the kids that your children were with tonight fell into one of the waterways and drowned."

Mary gasped.

"Oh my God! How did he fall in?!"

"None of the kids here have been very cooperative, but from the little information we were given, right now it looks like he tripped and fell."

Charlie stared at the two before speaking very quietly.

"Go into the kitchen and wait for us!"

The twins shakily walked into the kitchen.

Both of them were so terrified about what had happened tonight, but they each were scared for different reasons. However they both were scared as to how their parents were going to react.

They jumped when they heard the door slam and watched as their parents marched into the room. Their father looked enrage while their mother looked very pale.

"Dipper... Mabel... If something happened tonight that was more than just accident... You need to tell us now!" Charlie said, his voice shaking in anger.

Mabel choked back a sob.

Mary ran to hug her.

"Please tell us if something happened. We only want to know what happened." She said, gently.

"Dipper... wasn't with... us... He was sitting... on the bench..." Mabel sobbed.

"Is this true?" Mary asked him.

Dipper was still shaking as he nodded.

Charlie just glared at him.

"Then get the hell upstairs and go to bed!" He ordered.

"But Dad...!"

"GO TO BED NOW!" His father roared. "YOU'RE ALREADY HAVE ME IN FOUL MOOD ENOUGH AS IT IS!"

Dipper felt tears fall down his cheeks as he continued to stare at his father.

Mary came over to give him a hug.

"Go to bed, baby. Everything will be okay."

Dipper didn't feel any comfort in his mother's embrace. It only felt like a stranger holding him.

With nothing left to say, he slowly walked out of the kitchen while Mabel and their parents continued to talk about what happened.

He shakily walked up the stairs as he thought about Richie's death. A death he knew was committed by his hands, but he didn't have any knowledge of happening. He had no idea what he could do. He could call Stan and ask him what he could do, but then he realized he would have to tell him about Bill; and his grunkle would berate him about tampering with the supernatural when he had clearly told him not to; which would probably leading then lead him into turning him in. He could tell Mabel, but then he realized she would probably tell her parents; and they would probably have him committed to a mental hospital. Dipper cried at the thought. He couldn't end up there, if he did, he would probably end up spending the rest of his life there.

He couldn't tell anyone, he couldn't tell anyone the truth. They wouldn't believe him, they would lock him away, leaving him alone forever.

"As long as it's ruled as an accident, I'm safe." The boy tried to assure himself, but even with that thought, they still didn't mean he wasn't sorry.

This was going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Even if Richie had been one of the boys that had bullied him, he still would do anything to bring him back.

Dipper sulked into his room before closing the door and locking it when he saw Bill laying on his bed.

"Come here..." The demon gently ordered.

Dipper slowly sat on his bed staring at the demon's yellow eye and eye patch.

"Bill... why...?" He asked.

Bill looked almost amused.

"Why...? Why...? It was the only way Pine Tree."

"But... he didn't deserve that... Granted he was always mean to me, but you didn't have to end it this way..." Dipper said, quietly.

"But I eased some of the burden. Aren't you grateful?" Bill asked, frowning.

Dipper breathed deeply.

"Look, I know you're only trying to help me, but that didn't give you the right to kill him. With my body no less. I have the blood on my hands!"

Bill chuckled slightly.

"That's right, Pine Tree... You do have the blood on your hands... Which leads me to ask you this: what are you going to do about it?"

Dipper stepped back.

"I..."

"That's right... You can't do anything, little one... If you try to tell them the truth, they'll think your crazy! They'll lock you away to rot in a straight jacket for the rest of your life!" The demon taunted.

"NO! I CAN'T! I'M NOT CRAZY!" Dipper sobbed.

"Then are you going to be a good boy and listen to me?" Bill purred, maintaining full control on the helpless boy.

Dipper's lip quivered as hot tears streamed down his tears.

"Y-Y-Yes..." He sobbed. "I'll be good... I promise... Just don't leave me..."

The demon smiled in a frighteningly gentle way as he dried the boys tears.

"I'm doing this for your own good, Pine Tree. If you don't listen to me, then everyone will try to hurt you. You don't want people to hurt you anymore, do you Pine Tree?"

"No, no, no, no, no..." Dipper whimpered.

"Then just trust me, and everything will be okay." The demon said, still grinning in a psychotic manner.

Dipper lay down on his bed as he continued to cry himself to sleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Dipper hadn't kept track of how many days had passed since Richie gruesome death.

But he did know that the boy's death had left a huge impact on the school.

Almost all afterschool activities had been cancelled that week, but the overall atmosphere felt so empty.

It was just one student that was dead, but it felt like it had been a huge travesty.

Dipper walked in the halls of the school to see kids just sitting on the floor crying. Almost as if they felt a part of them die as well. Their lives had been altered for good; and they would never be able to look at life the same way again.

The boy continued walking until he stopped at the schools main display case. In the case was a large picture of Richie with 5 white lit candles and dozens of flowers placed inside with a written message under the photo.

"Richard Michaels: 1999-2012. A young soul that was taken too soon, but shall be forever missed.

Dipper felt tears running down his face as he stared at the photo. If he could go back in time, if he could have stopped himself from going to sleep, the outcome could have changed.

The boy placed a white carnation in the case.

"Richie... In another time, in another life, I hope you can find in your heart to forgive me someday. But right now, I have to live with the shame; and I'm really sorry."

Dipper continued to stare at the photo a little longer before he noticed the door that would lead to his science teacher's office.

He really wanted someone to talk to. He needed to tell someone all of things that were on his mind. He needed a slight distraction; even it was for only five minutes.

He started to walk to the office when he felt a dark thought cross the back of his mind.

What if Bill didn't approve of this? The dream demon had warned that if he tried to talk to others about his problems, that they would just write him off as crazy. They would just scold him and tell him he was delving deeper into his own madness. Which ultimately lead to Dr. Harkin to prescribe him with even more medicine. And what if that medicine caused Bill to abandon him? Then he would no one; he would be alone with nothing but his own thoughts.

The boy shook his head fiercely.

No! He needed to talk to someone that wasn't Bill for a change. His teacher had soon concern for him; and that was enough to show that she was willing to listen to him.

Dipper slowly walked to the officer door, knocking timidly.

"Who is it?" The teacher's voice could be heard on the other side.

"It's Dipper! Can I talk to you for a few minutes?!" The boy asked.

"Sure come on in!" The woman said.

Dipper opened the door and walked inside, noticing his teacher sitting at a desk that was close to the back window.

"Hello Dipper. What brings you here?" The woman asked, looking up from her pile of papers.

"I... I wanted to talk to you..." He said in a tiny voice.

"About what?" She asked, gently.

Dipper was about to open his mouth, but he found no words were about to roll off his tongue. The tears that were in his however, didn't seem to have any problem rolling down his face. He was scared about what he wanted to tell her. Just how the demon had planned it.

The older woman frowned a little as she handed the boy some tissues for his eyes.

"Take it easy..." She said in a soothing voice. "Just tell me what the problem, and I can try and find a way to help you."

"I don't know if you would believe me..."

"Does this have to do with anything bothering you at home?" She asked.

Dipper only stared into his eyes before he nodded slowly.

"What's got you so upset at home?" The woman asked in a soft voice.

"It's my mom and dad... They... they... they think something's wrong with me..." The boy said trying to keep his composure.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because I heard them... I heard them question where they went wrong with me. They think my sister Mabel is perfect and that she can do no wrong, but they think I'm a complete disappoint to them."

"I doubt that they..."

"My father said I was a disappointment to him. I heard him say those exact words to one of his coworkers; and my mom just sits back and let's him say those things, but will cry and manipulate when things don't go her way."

The science teacher had a look a sadness on her face.

"Dipper... I didn't know... Have you tried talking..."

"Yeah... It didn't go anywhere... They just sent to see Dr. Harkin again. Now I am this medicine that's supposed to help my so called anxiety..." The boy replied.

His teacher frowned.

"What about your sister Mabel? From what I seemed to gather, you two seemed so close at one point. What happened?"

"We drifted away... She no longer wants to cover my back anymore. If she ever really did... Even after all those things I've given up just for her... He was right the entire time..."

"Who...?" His teacher asked, confused.

Dipper was about to speak when he noticed Bill standing above him. His face looked menacing.

"You can't tell her about me, Pine Tree. You know what will happen if you do." He threatened.

The boy looked at the demon with a pleading look.

"Do you want her to think that you're crazy or a murderer?" He asked, his left eye turning red as his voice lowered slightly.

Dipper began to shake slightly at the thought, but he wanted to get everything into the open. If he could everything off his chest, he may finally be free.

"You see... There's this..."

Bill almost immediately used his cane and jabbed Dipper roughly in the side. The boy cried in pain.

"Are you all right?" His teacher asked, looking worried.

Dipper rubbed his side as he wondered if he should resume talking, but he saw the look on the demon's face saying: "Try it again and see what happens."

"I... I... I'm just really tried..." The boy sobbed.

His teacher got out of her seat to hug him.

"You poor thing... You really are having a rough time..."

He only nodded.

"Maybe I should..."

"NO! PLEASE DON'T CALL MY MOM! PLEASE?!" He was literally on his hands and knees begging.

The older woman looked at him like she was going to cry herself.

"Okay... I promise I won't call her... But you have to promise me that you won't do anything foolish."

"What do you mean?"

"I know how hard it is to have controlling and perfectionist parents, and I know how horrible they can be; but you can't let it consume your life, Dipper. Once you graduate high school, you don't have to talk to them ever again; and you'll be free to be who you want to be."

"But that's the problem, Pine Tree... You can't..."

"I just want things to go back to the way they were. Like they were back in Gravity Falls this summer. Back with Grunkle Stan, Soos, Wendy and everyone... The place where I wasn't afraid... The place where for the first time in my life, I could be free..." Dipper explained.

His teacher smiled thoughtfully as she looked at her watch.

"I'm sorry to cut this talk short, but I need to head home now." She said, apologetically.

Dipper stood up.

"I understand."

The boy said his goodbyes before he walked out the door.

Bill stood in front of him.

"Why aren't you listening to me?" He asked in a disapproving tone.

"I... I just want to get it all off my chest. I feel a little better now to be honest." The boy said smiling for the first time in days.

Bill stood there with his mouth hanging open slightly.

"Come on, Bill. I want to talk to other people besides you once in awhile." The boy protested. "Don't make a big deal out of this... I don't want you to leave me alone because of this. I don't know what I would do... I'm sorry..."

The demon smiled as he saw his toy become subservient again.

"You have to understand, kiddo. You were lucky this time, but if you try to talk to anyone else about any of this, you might not be so lucky." He said, softly.

Dipper nodded as he gather his things.

He reached his home about a half an hour later to walk into the house to see his mother on the phone. At first he was horrified that his teacher had betrayed him, and his heart was pounding against his chest as she hung up the phone.

"How was school, honey?" She asked.

"Fine..." He responded, carefully.

"Anything happen?" She asked again.

"No..." He answered, sweating nervously.

"Why are you acting so weird? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Mom. I'm just really tired."

Mary sighed to herself as she stared at her sweat drenched son.

"Well then go take a shower. You're completely covered in sweat."

"But I showered this morning..." Dipper protested.

"Sweating is not good for your skin and it's smelly. So please don't argue with me and go take one." She ordered, angrily.

Dipper sighed in defeat before he stomped upstairs to do what he was told.

Mary sighed as she heard the door to the upstairs bathroom slam.

"Oh Dipper... What am I going to do with you, sweetie?" She sighed to herself.

Mary walked to the refrigerator and began to start pulling out items that she wanted to use to prepare dinner that night.

Bringing them to the counter, she began to assemble the ingredients together when she thought she smelled something burning.

She nervously turned around and looked around, wondering what the hell was causing that smell. That was until she rested her eyes on the oven.

Somehow it had been turned on and something had been placed inside and was burning.

Mary almost instantly threw the door opened to be hit with a thick cloud of burning smoke. She coughed heavily as she tried to clear the smoke away and barely managed to pull out the burning item dropping it on the floor. The woman sighed as she closed the oven and turned it off. She then returned her attention to the charred item on the floor. Her eyes widened as she saw what it was.

It was her red nightgown that had been disappearing and reappearing for weeks. Now it was completely destroyed.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" She cried, in horror.

But then she noticed some crinkled in the nightgowns remains. She quickly rummaged through it to pull out a slightly charred folded note.

She opened the note to read what it said before she let out a horrified scream.

"I would watch your cookies if I were you. We wouldn't want them to burn now, would we?"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The Saturday had come for Dipper to go back to see Dr. Harkin again to check up on his progress with the medicine.

The Pine boy didn't even put up much of a fight anymore as he sat in the waiting room while the rest of his family had gone out to breakfast.

Dipper normally would have been hurt and upset by the that, but at this point, he had pulled so faraway from them that everything little thing that they did to them really didn't hurt anymore. He no longer felt pain anymore; and the boy had the demon to thank for that.

Bill had comforted him when the boy cried in the dark. He came to his aid anytime the boy was being tortured by the evil souls around him. He was the father he never had, but the one that wanted to bring him to his knees; and would never realize his true intentions until it was far to late.

Dipper closed his eyes as he rested his head on the back of his chair. All he had to was just talk to the doctor about his progress; if he could get through this session without incident, then everything would be fine and he wouldn't need to take more medicine.

The boy was taken out of his thoughts when the receptionist called his name.

"DIPPER PINES!"

Dipper walked up to the front desk.

"I'm Dipper Pines." He said, quietly.

"You can go into Dr. Harkin's office, now." The woman said, flatly.

Dipper merely shrugged as he started to walk back towards the back corner office.

"Just get through this session, and everything will be fine." He soothingly thought to himself.

He then came to the office door. He timidly knocked on the door.

"Come on in!" Dr. Harkin could be heard on the other side.

Dipper opened the door and he slowly walked inside to see that Dr. Harkin was sitting in one of the comfy chairs, ready to go.

"Hello there, Dipper. I wanted to get started right away, so why don't you have a seat on the couch and we'll talk.

Dipper only nodded as he sprawled himself onto the couch as he tried to relax his body.

"I spoke with your mother earlier this week, apparently one of the boys that you knew died in a horrible accident. Is this true?"

Dipper felt his heart sink, slightly. He really was hoping that Dr. Harkin wouldn't bring up this topic. The thought of Richie's murder still haunted him; not because it was just a surprise to him, it was because Bill had possessed his body to do the deed. Even though Dipper had unintentionally killed him, he still felt guilt and regret for what he did. But he never questioned what possessed the demon to take control of him to do what he did. The demon had only said it was for protection; to ease some of the burden that the boy had been forced to endure since Richie had been one of Frankie's goons. Even then Dipper didn't want to think about something he didn't remember happening, but was guilty for committing.

"Yeah..." Dipper said, swallowing hard. "He apparently fell into a waterway in a bridge in this park, drowning inside. They found his body floating a reservoir."

Dr. Harkin only nodded as he scribbled some notes onto his notepad.

"Did you go to his funeral?" The doctor asked.

"Yes I did..."

"How did you feel at the funeral?"

"I felt... Depressed and maybe a little guilty." The boy said, quietly.

"Why did you feel guilty?"

"Richie and his friends were always mean to me. It hurt a lot and sometimes I would wish one of them would be bullied or hurt themselves, so they would know what it feels like. But now that Richie really is dead, it makes me feel even worse for any bad thought I had about him. No matter how mean he was to me." Dipper sighed looking out the window.

Dr. Harkin only nodded as he wrote down some more notes.

"Are things getting better between you and your parents?" The doctors asked.

The boy only sighed.

"Not really... My father still thinks my behavior hasn't improved yet."

"Well if that's the case, you're going to have to adjust your behavior to meet your father's satisfaction. Aren't you?" The doctor asked him sternly.

"Yes sir..." Was all the Pine boy could say.

Dr. Harkin walked back to his desk to retrieve the old pocket watch.

"All right then Dipper... I want to do hypnosis with you again."

Dipper looked at him skeptically.

"Why?" He asked, understandable unnerved.

"There is some things that were left unanswered when I spoke with your subconscious. Perhaps today I will get the answers I didn't get the last time. Are you ready?" He asked the boy.

"Not in the least..." Dipper said out loud.

Dr. Harkin ignored the boy's comment as he began to sway the chained watch back and forth.

"Are getting relaxed now, Dipper?" He asked the boy.

"Yes sir..." He droned, feeling his eyelids become heavier.

"You are going to become very tired. Soon you will be fast asleep."

Almost instantly, Dipper tilted his head back and fell into a deep sleep.

Dr. Harkin placed the watch back on the desk before he walked towards the stiffly still boy.

"Now... Dipper can you answer me some questions...?" He stopped for a second and then thought about last time.

"Actually... Bill...? Are you there?" He asked.

Bipper eyes shot open as he gave the doctor his manic grin.

"Hey there doc! How's it going?!" The demon asked, the smile never leaving his face.

"I'm fine, Bill, but I was wondering if I could ask some more questions."

Bipper looked at him thoughtfully.

"I don't see why not? How can I bedazzle you today, my good man?" He asked.

"I wanted to know if you were aware of the death of one of Dipper's classmates."

Bipper stared at the man for quite awhile without saying word. While he thought about keeping his silence about the murder, he really wanted to blab about to someone. Since there was no evidence or witness' at the scene of the crime, plus the fact that the police ruled the boy's death as an accident, he was in the clear. Plus exposing his little secret would really have Dr. Harkin on the boy. Giving Dipper even more vulnerability until he finally when and how to put his ultimate plan into play.

"Know about it? I don't just know about it, I killed him myself." The demon said, with a small but demented smile on his face.

Dr. Harkin's mouth dropped slightly.

"I beg your pardon?" He asked, rather shocked.

"I thought I was pretty clear. I said I killed the boy myself." Bipper laughed.

"You mean to tell me that Dipper killed that boy?!" The doctor asked, horrified.

Bipper held up his hand as he shook his head.

"No not at all. You see Pine Tree had nothing to do with what happened. As far as you and I are concerned, Pine Tree was fast asleep on the park bench, when his sister, Shooting Star and her friends went down to the waterways. I just happened to obtain consciousness; where I saw my chance and through that little bastard into the rushing waters. I can still hear that poor child's screams as if it happened just a few minutes ago!" The demon let out a manic laugh in amusement.

Dr. Harkin only stared.

"I don't understand... Dipper didn't kill him?"

"Nope... Pine Tree was asleep the entire time of the incident and couldn't have committed such a thing. But I was conscious I did the deed with my two hands."

Dr. Harkin was split down the middle. For all he knew the demon was just lying and wanted to get him to play a game. After all there were no witness' or any sign of struggle unless you count the hopeless fight against the fierce current in the water. But he decided to keep the conservation going and see where the demon would take it.

"Well Bill...? Why did you decide to kill this boy." He asked.

Bipper closed his eyes in thought for a second.

"Because I could." He simply said.

"But why...?"

Bipper laughed at the man's naïve question.

"I just told you doc, I killed him because I was presented with an opportunity to do so. No one was around and because the current from the water caused a lot of noise, no one would hear us and no one would question how it happen. To everyone, Richie's death was just an accident, but I saw it as an opportunity to take someone out of the equation."

"Did you this because you thought you would be protecting Dipper?"

"Not exactly... Like I said the last time we had our little chat. I have plans for retribution for my little Pine Tree. He needs to be taught a lesson for getting in my way and ruining all of my big plans. I would lying if I said I didn't have a soft spot for him. I've been treating him like a son for quite awhile." Bipper's eyes seemed to glow ominously as smile become almost pure evil. "But a good son is one I can control and bend right at my command."

Dr. Harkin almost felt sorry for Dipper. There was a strong possibility that he was a victim of his own madness. He had a feeling that Dipper could be clinically insane, but there still wasn't enough evidence to prove this. On the outside Dipper, while having withdrawn more from his peers, seemed pretty normal. Was his inner struggle a lot more serious then he may have realized.

But he was going to still need more evidence for his conclusion.

"Thank you for talking to me Bill, but I have to wake up Dipper now."

"I get the hint. Enjoy the fireworks; because when they come, it's going to be one hell of a show!" The demon laughed, insanely just as Dr. Harkin clapped his hands.

Dipper shot up in his chair with sweat dripping down his face as he felt his heart pounding.

"What happened?!" He demanded, looking into the doctor's eyes.

Dr. Harkin only stared at the boy not saying anything for a good five minutes.

"Dr. Harkin did something happen?!" Dipper asked him.

"I... No... Everything's fine Dipper... I got some more's answers that I needed, but I'm afraid were out of time for today."

Dipper stood up to leave when the doctor called out to him again.

"Dipper... I want to meet again next Saturday... There is still some more things I want to check up on, but we'll discuss that more next week. Just continue to take your pills and everything should be fine okay?"

The boy only nodded.

"All right your free to go then."

Dipper said goodbye to the doctor as he left.

Dr. Harkin went to pick up his notepad when he noticed a message written on bottom of the page.

His eyes widened as he slowly the read the simple message.

"Enjoy the calm before the storm."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See what I did at the end there?


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Another week had come and gone. The final bell rang, as the eager young teens bolted down the halls to their lockers to gather their belongings before venturing home for the long weekend.

Dipper as always took his time when gathering his things so he didn't have to deal with the large crowd of kids that would bombard and or knock him done either by coincidence or out of malicious intents. Then he would brave the long half hour walk home so he didn't have to deal with the kids on the bus.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that most of the kids were starting to exit the building, giving him the opportunity now to go to his locker and gather his belongings.

He opened his locker and gathered all of his needed books into his backpack as he waited a while longer to see if the outside was a little more quiet so he could leave the grounds unnoticed.

It took about a good ten to fifteen minutes for the schoolyard to begin to empty, but finally there only a strew of kids left; allowing Dipper a chance to walk home without detection.

As he was about to walk out of the building, he saw a table at the front of the main hall. The table was the stand that was selling tickets for the school dance tomorrow night.

Mabel had bought her ticket earlier that week and was planning to dinner with a bunch of her friends before they all went to the dance. With the way they planned it, you would think that the group was going to senior prom instead of a junior high dance.

Dipper had been debating if he actually wanted to go or not. In the honest truth, he really didn't want to go to the dance at all. He knew for the most part, he would ultimately end up sitting by himself in corner with no one to talk or dance with, while Mabel and her friends would have the time of their lives. On the other hand however, he had a feeling his father was going to kick him out of the house while Mabel went to the dance; as his father really didn't want have any alone time with him. Plus since he yelled at his father, the man had barely spoken to him since then. Believing that the boy was still a problem until Dr. Harkin told him that he was finally under control.

Although Dipper didn't realize the irony that Bill was doing to him what he didn't want his parents to do.

He continued to stare at the ticket stand, wondering what he should do.

Should he go to a dance that he knew he wasn't going to a good time at? Or would he face the possibility that his parents might force to go someplace else for the evening so they didn't have to deal with him?

Normally Dipper would go to the park to read, but after what happened to Richie, he never wanted to set foot in that park ever again.

Realizing now that his mind had been made up, Dipper walked over to the ticket table.

At the table were Frankie and several of his friends.

"What do you want, freak?!" Frankie growled at him.

"I would like one ticket to the dance please." Dipper said, wanting to get his ticket so he could go home as soon as possible.

"Why should we give you one?" The boy on Frankie's right asked in a rather taunting voice.

"Because it's a dance that everyone can go to; and I would like to go to the dance." The boy said, trying to body as calm as possible.

"This dance is a very important social for all us students; and we can't have it tainted by dogs like you!" The girl on the left said, with a smirk on her face.

The kids laughed.

Dipper tried to fight back tears and keep his mind as clear as possible. He didn't want the demon to gain control at the moment.

"Can I please have my ticket so I can go home?!" He begged.

"I'm afraid I can't sell you one!" Frankie taunted. "This dance is open to everyone but you..."

Dipper felt his head grow heavy and had to close his eyes to collect his bearings; but when they opened, it was Bipper that had taken control.

"I have been quite friendly enough! I want you to give me my ticket right now, or I will just have to take it from by force!" Bipper demanded, with a menacing scowl on his face.

"Give it up, Little Dipper; we're not giving you the ticket." Frankie laughed.

Bipper's eyes began to glow an ominous red before grabbed Frankie by his collar and began to raise out of his chair.

"I've had enough fun and games out of you, you warty little reptile! So if you want to make things good on yourself, you will give me my ticket; or I will proceed to strangle you!" 

"Hey man, take it easy!" The one boy cried at the display.

Bipper began to violently shake the bully until he saw a teacher begin to walk down the hall. He threw him back into his chair when he saw that it was the science teacher that Dipper had gone to awhile back.

"What's going on here?!" She demanded.

The three were about to protest what had happened here when Bipper had filled his eyes with fake tears and began his performance.

"These kids won't give me a ticket to the dance!" The demon said, letting out a sob.

"But Ms. Finn..." Frankie tried to chime in.

"They claimed that this dance was a social event that I'm not allowed to be apart of. I was told that I was not allowed to buy a ticket or go to this dance! How can these kids be so cruel?!" Bipper fake sobbed, tears cleverly falling down his face. "Such morons" He laughed to himself.

"Frankie is this true?" Ms. Finn asked, angrily. Were you and these other two refusing to let Dipper have a ticket to an event that anyone can go to?"

Frankie looked at the floor.

"Yes... But you see..."

"I'm very disappointed in you, young man. I would have expected better! Now I want you to give Dipper a ticket free of charge, this minute!" She ordered.

"You didn't see what he..."

"I SAID NOW!" He yelled.

Frankie let out an angry snarl as he reluctantly gave the demon his free ticket.

"Thank you so much Frankie!" Bipper said in a fake sweet voice.

The bully just growled.

After the exchange Bill quietly gave Dipper his body back as the boy just opened his eyes to stared at his surroundings.

"Now what do you say?" Ms. Finn asked the three bullies.

"Sorry!" They practically spat, showing the boy that they obviously didn't mean.

Dipper only stared in confusion as he looked down at his ticket.

Without much else to go by or question, he only nodded his head before he slipped out the door to walk home.

Ms. Finn turned her attention back to the three while Bill remained unnoticed as he continued to watch them.

"I can't believe you three!" She growled in disgust. "You three know better than that, but you still to continue to act like elementary school children! I should ban you three from the dance for that awful behavior!"

The young teens eyes widened with horror.

"NO! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Frankie screamed.

"Why shouldn't I?" Ms. Finn frowned.

"This dance has been my highlight for the school year so far! If you ban us! I'll die!"

Ms. Finn stared dumbfounded. They thought a simple school dance was the peak of their social lives? There were so many others things for them to look to forward to. But still..."

"Just like how you guys thought you had the right to try and ban Dipper?" She demanded.

"Well..."

"I really should ban you, however, You may still go, but on one condition." Ms. Finn explained.

"Anything!" The three begged.

"You are to have a Saturday school tomorrow morning starting at seven thirty. During that time you are going to help me set up for the dance and you may not leave until we're done." She explained.

"But that could take all day!" The girl whined. "And I have to spend the day getting ready!"

"Well you should have thought of that before you decided to be mean. Remember if you do not show up tomorrow morning, you will not be permitted to go to the dance. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am." The kids reluctantly sighed.

"Good! Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go pick up my own son from school." Ms. Finn walked away.

The girl turned towards Frankie.

"Frankie... That Dipper has to ruin everything! Now I'm not going to able to look cute for the dance!

Frankie held up his hand.

"Relax... Relax... I promise you that Dipper is not going to get away this..." The bully grinned evilly. "Because we're going to humiliate him in front of everyone."

"How are we going to do that?" The boy asked.

Frankie only chuckled.

"Meet me in courtyard tomorrow morning at quarter to seven. Then I tell you what we're going to do."

The trio cleaned up the table before walking away.

Bill continued to hide in the shadows as his psychotic smile became wider and wider.

He now had an idea for his ultimate plan.

"Vengeance will be mine, Pine Tree!"

The demon then let out a cruel laugh that would only fall on deaf ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks something bad is in store for Dipper...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Saturday had come. At one part of town Frankie and two of his goons had met up in the school courtyard forty five minutes early to hear what the head bully had in mind to humiliate Dipper at the dance later that evening.

"All right Frankie. What exactly are you planning that's going to completely ruin Dipper?" The female goon asked.

"I'm so glad you asked, Violet." Frankie chuckled, darkly. He then revealed a large barrel of something some kind of excrement.

"What's that?" The one boy asked.

Frankie grinned even wider.

"This my friends is the perfect combination of human fat and waste."

"That's disgusting!" Violet cringed as tried to hold back the bile rising up her throat.

"Exactly! The perfect product to put that Dipper in his place! Do you guys realize how disgusting he will look when he is covered in that human fat and waste? The whole school will be so amused and disgusted that will never want to associate with him ever again! And that will make him realize his place in this world! He'll be sorry for make us bend; and he will definitely be sorry for making me lose my footing causing me to break my leg." The boy said, looking down at his leg brace.

"So where are we going to put it exactly?" The boy asked.

Frankie sighed.

"We'll take into inside into the gym before Ms. Finn shows up. Once we start setting up for the dance. I'll have one of you place the concoction on the one of the catwalks that is going to be hidden by one the large banners."

The other two bullies grinned evilly as they helped Frankie carry the barrel into the gymnasium.

Once inside, they saw a small opening behind one of the bleachers; which lead them up a descending platform towards one of the catwalks.

The three carefully hid the barrel in the opening, smirking all the way.

"Well that's it for step one!" Frankie chuckled.

"I just hope that we don't get caught before the event is over." Violet said, frowning.

Frankie patted her shoulder.

"Oh don't worry, this will go according to plan."

The three turned when they noticed Ms. Finn walking into the gymnasium.

"Good morning to you three. I'm actually surprised that you three even came." She said, frowning slightly.

"The only reason we are here is because we are planning to go to that dance." Frankie said as he smiled through gritted teeth.

Ms. Finn only glared but the boy remained unaffected.

"Let's just this over with!" Violet growled. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go to get my hair done!"

The teacher sighed.

"All right then. How about we start by placing the mats along the floor..."

Meanwhile on the other side of town, Dipper was walking down the hall to Dr. Harkin office. The dance was later that evening; and he currently did not know what the bullies had in plan for him. Nor did he know that this plan was where Bill was also going to unleash his ultimate plan.

Even without this knowledge, Dipper really wasn't sure why he even bothered to cave into the pressure of going to the dance. Then again, it would have been better than the possibility of getting kicked out of the house for the amounted time. Seeing as being in a warm building would always be better than sitting in the cold evening.

He finally reached the back corner office when he knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Dr. Harkin called.

Dipper opened the door to see that Dr. Harkin was sitting in the large chair by the couch, all ready to go."

"Hello Dipper, I'm sorry to have to rush you, but we don't have a lot of time today and I wanted to start right away." The man said.

Dipper sighed as he laid down on the couch.

"Has anything really changed throughout the last week that we talked?"

"Not much really... I'm going to a school dance later tonight." The boy said staring out the window.

"That's nice... What made you want to go?"

"That's the thing; I really don't want to go." The boy said, frowning.

"I don't understand. Why are you going to a dance if you don't want to go?" The doctor asked.

"Because if I don't go, my father will kick me out of the house until the dance is over. I'll have no place to go during that time; and I don't know if anyone will try to hurt me. I normally would go to the park and read my books; but after what happened to Richie, I'll never be able to go back to that place ever again."

Dr. Harkin frowned as he thought about last week's conversation before he spoke.

"I just think you're father wants you to get out of the house once in awhile Dipper." He gently explained.

"I always am outside..." Dipper attempted to protest.

"That's not what I mean. I mean he wants to go out and socialize with others. You do have a tendency to be by yourself with your readings and these little adventures you like to go on, but you need to be around people more than by yourself. It's the only way you'll have a better time meeting new people. Since you really want to accepted by your peers, like your sister. Am I making sense?" Dr. Harkin explained.

Dipper sighed as he nodded.

Meanwhile back at the school gym, Frankie and his three goons were helping Ms. Finn along some of the other adults and students that had volunteered this morning getting the gym ready for the big dance.

Everything had been set up a lot faster then scheduled.

The wooden floors were covered with dark blue rubber mats. Tables and chairs were set up along the corners of the room with empty snack plates and bowls for bunch that would be filled later. Balloons were blown up and scattered all around the room; and the dj was setting up his area near the back of the gym that would play all kinds of music for the kids to dance to.

Frankie turned towards his head when he noticed one of the large banners had gone up above the catwalk where he planned to place the concoction for his little 'surprise' for Dipper.

He casually limped towards Violet and the other boy before smirking.

"The time is right, guys. You two take the barrel up to the catwalk and place the barrel at angel where it will be secure but will easily tip over when are ready to spring the trap."

The two nodded as they carefully slipped off.

The walked under the opening to the bleachers carefully picked up the barrel.

They looked around to see if the coast was clear. Seeing that no one was around, they carefully began to walk up the ascending platform, being careful not to drop the excrement on themselves. At the top, they carefully walked along the catwalk until they reached the perfect spot to place the barrel. They carefully moved it around so it would stay until in place, until they were ready to dump the contents on their prey. Satisfied with the work, Violet placed a placed a supporting harness onto the hooked opening of the barrel, locking the rope in place. The two then carefully walked down the platform before the place large rope it was connected to out of place where they could easily pull on the harness to finish the cruel deed.

Everything had gone according to plan.

They quickly returned to see Frankie helping Ms. Finn set up the admissions booth at the front door.

"Where were you guys?" She asked.

"We were just checking to see if the banners were hung up properly." The boy goon, carefully lied.

Ms. Finn sighed as she put the finishing touches onto the booth before looking around the entire gym.

"Well I guess I'm afraid to say that, we're done. You three did what I asked, so you are permitted to go to the dance tonight." She sighed.

"Oh thank you!" The kids cheered happily.

"But I'm going to be keeping an eye on you three, just in case." She frowned.

"Don't worry, Ms. Finn. The three of us will be on our best behavior." Frankie smiled.

"Whatever... I'll see you guys later. You're free to go..."

The three quickly ran out of the gym before laughing.

"Tonight is going to be one hell of a night!" Frankie laughed as the walked out of the school. Not noticing that Bill was hiding in the shadows.

"Yes! Tonight is going to be one hell of a night... For me!" The demon laughed before he noticed that he was being called somewhere.

"That doctor is about to hypnotize Pine Tree, again. Better go and make my presence." He grinned before teleporting back to the doctors office.

Meanwhile, back at the doctor's office, Dipper had continued to talk about the week's events for a little while before Dr. Harkin decided to bring out the pocket watch once more.

"I want to do another round of hypnotism before we end our session today. Are you ready?"

"I really don't feel like getting hypnotized today." Dipper protested with a firm frown on his face.

"I strongly insist, Dipper." The doctor said, firmly as he began to sway the watch back and forth.

"Are you relaxing?" He asked.

Dipper reluctantly nodded as he felt his eyelids slowly becoming heavier and heavier.

After a few more minutes of resisting, Dipper was fast asleep.

Dr. Harkin breathed deeply. He really didn't want to speak to the demon again, but unless he figure out what was causing all of this, he would never be satisfied.

"Bill...?" He asked.

The boy remained very still.

"Bill? Are you there...?" He asked again.

Bipper's eyes shot open.

The demon was giggling maniacally as he stared deep into Dr. Harkin's eyes.

The man took a second to collect his bearings before he tried to speak again.

"Bill there are a few more things I wanted to ask you."

The demon said nothing as he continued his manic giggling; the smile on his face becoming wider than chesire's cats.

"I wanted to know about your ultimate plans for Dipper. What exactly are you planning to do with him."

Bipper stopped giggling and became deafeningly quiet. His eyes deeply into Dr. Harkin's, but he didn't say a word.

"Bill... I can't read your mind. I need you to tell me what you're thinking. Otherwise there isn't going to be anyway I can help you."

"Help me!?" The demon laughed, lowly. "That's precious... You're not helping us at all! All you're doing is trying to do is solve me like a puzzle! A puzzle that is driving you mad; but face the facts doc, you'll never be able to solve me! Even if you did, you would never be able to look at life the same way again. So you've been pumping Dipper full of medicine; medicine that he really doesn't need. But still I have to thank you..."

"Thank me for what?" Doctor Harkin asked.

"Thank you for helping me isolate Dipper faraway from everyone. The mere mention of you in the beginning was enough for to scare him into talking to people about his problems; as he knew that if he said anything, he would be sitting in your office like we are right now. He's afraid anything he mentions will be brought to his parents and it will all come back to you."

Dr. Harkin only stared as he looked into the demented boys eyes.

"But what are your big plans for Dipper, Bill. That's all I care about."

Bipper grinned eerily.

"Wouldn't you want to know?! But I'm afraid if I tell you right now, then it might ruin everything! It's all going to be a big surprise! But I promise you that you are going to find out what it is; I just can't tell you what it is!"

"Then when is it going to happen?"

"It's going to be happening very soon. Maybe even sooner than you realize."

"Thank you, Bill." The doctor sighed heavily. "I'm going to wake up Dipper now."

Bipper bowed politely before Dr. Harkin clapped his hands.

Dipper jolted awake as he looked around the room.

"What happened?!" He demanded.

Dr. Harkin remained quiet as he only stared at the boy.

"Dr. Harkin what's going on?!" The boy asked, frightened.

"I'm afraid that we are out of time for today, Dipper. I'll call your mother to set up an appointment at a later time, but right now I have another appointment."

"But..." Dipper attempted.

"Just continue your pills and everything should be okay." The doctor quickly shooed the boy out the door before closing it behind him.

Dipper walked outside confused.

Later that evening, Dipper was in his room getting ready for the dance.

He looked at himself in the mirror as he saw himself wearing a blood red skinny pants with the same color sports jacket to match. He thought the outfit that his mother had bought him for the evening was eerie. It was almost like someone had dumped an entire bucket of blood on him leaving a sinister stain.

Dipper was taken out of his thoughts when he noticed Bill standing right behind him.

"Don't you look fetching, Pine Tree!" The demon chuckled.

"I don't know... I think I look, sinister." Dipper said in a rather uneasy voice.

Bill whipped his hair back slightly before placing his hands on his hips.

"Nonsense! You look great! Your mother may be a cold woman, but she does have a great sense of style!" The demon beamed.

"I don't think I should go..." Dipper sighed.

Bill was rather surprised that Dipper was having second thoughts now, but he needed everything to go according to plan. So he grinned slyly.

"But you do realize you're not going to be allowed in the house if you don't go, right?" 

"Yes..."

"And you also realize that you can't go to that park you like to frequent because of what happened with Richie..."

Dipper nodded glumly.

The dream demon placed a couple squirts of hair gel into his gloved hands before he carefully began to style Dipper's messy brown hair.

"So you should just go to the dance. You can't hide in your room forever, Pine Tree; besides you were able to take those bullies down a peg when that teacher made them give you a ticket. I say you should put it to good use; and I'll be there incase anyone tries to hurt you. You know that I'll never let anything bad happen to you." He purred as he finished styling the boys hair in place, revealing Dipper's birthmark on his forehead. "Now even your namesake shall shine."

Dipper sighed a little before nodding.

"I guess you're right, Bill." The boy smiled a little.

The two were interrupted when Mabel came bursting into the room with a happy smile on her face. Her hair was completely curly with sparkling white clips throughout. She was dressed in a glittering white dress with a slight pink tint with a slight ruffled skirt and feathery short sleeves.

"OH BRO BRO YOU LOOK AMAZING!" She beamed, happily. "It perfectly emphasizes the theme that I wanted, red and white! Everyone at school will be so jelly of our theme!"

Dipper only nodded as stared at his reflection.

"What's wrong bro, bro?" She asked, softly.

"No ones going to want to dance with. I'm the huge loser throughout the school, remember?" He said, sadly.

Mabel smiled.

"Don't you worry about that, Dipping sauce, one of my friends is going to be your date for the evening; and she even agreed to dance with you."

"Are you sure she will?" Dipper asked.

"Of course; she promised she would!"

"DIPPER! MABEL! COME DOWN STAIRS SO WE CAN PICTURES!" Their mother called.

"Come on bro bro! Let's go have a night we'll remember!"

The older twin pulled her brother down the stair, never fully realizing the irony of her words.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Dipper was waiting down stairs as Mabel and her friends were standing around as the twins parents were taking pictures for the evening. All of them were going on and on about their first junior high dance and that it was going to be the best night of their lives. Dipper on the other hand really wasn't as excited as his sister and her friends were. To him it was just another school dance; almost like how they made a huge deal about homecoming and prom in high school. There was just so little to get excited for.

The only good thing that seemed to be going for Dipper that evening was Mabel had gotten one of her friends to go with him to the dance. Her name was Lucy and she had curly blonde hair pinned with a cute baby blue dress on. Although the two didn't really say much when the group arrived to the house.

"Dipper come here and take a picture with Mabel." His mother said, interrupting his train of thought.

The boy sighed to himself before he went towards the fireplace to take picture with his sister. Mabel grabbed him tightly as she did a peace sign for the camera.

"RED AND WHITE THEME TONIGHT, BRO BRO!" She squealed, happily.

The Pine boy sighed when he heard a honking outside.

"The limo's here!" Said of the boys as he pointed out the front the door.

"They even got a limo for a junior high dance? They really are pulling this out of proportion." Dipper thought to himself.

"Why don't we all climb in and head to dinner before the dance." Mabel said.

Everyone cheered as they all crowded inside.

Dinner wasn't really that special. The large group had all gone to the Cheesecake Factory and had devoured their meals while they talked about what was going to happen at the dance that night.

"Maybe one of you gentleman will get the honor of dancing with me! Mabel grinned.

"I want to dance with you!" Said one boy.

"NO! I WANT TO!" Said another.

Through the entire meal, Dipper had only sat in his chair, periodically picking and nibbling at his meal while Mabel and her friends were in their own little world. Even now a small part of him was tempted to just say screw it, and just go home and avoid the dance altogether. However, he wouldn't be let inside the house until the dance was over, leaving him with very few places to go. Realizing how limited his options were at this rate, Dipper just relaxed in his chair and continue to pick at his food until it was time to go.

Another forty minutes had passed until the limo had pulled up at the school; and from what Dipper could see, they weren't the only ones to get a limo for the event.

The group had gotten in line with their tickets to go inside. Dipper on the other hand had remained at the back of the line as he wanted to remain outside for as long as possible before he had to go inside. A part of him was worried Frankie was going to torment for getting them in trouble and wanted to avoid the boy for as long he could, but as he got closer and closer to the admissions stand, the sooner he would have to go in side and brave the dance.

He was taken out of his thoughts when he felt someone standing beside him. He turned to see that it was only Lucy.

"So are you excited about the dance?" She asked, trying to start up a conversation.

"I guess so..." He quietly responded.

"Well that's good... Mabel was actually worried that you weren't going to come tonight. She said that things have been shaky between you guys. It kinda saddened me; the two of you were always so inseparable." She said, looking down at her shoes.

Dipper only smiled sadly; the two of them really were inseparable. He wondered if they could ever really become that close ever again.

"Hey look! We're next, Dipper!" Lucy said as she handed the teacher sitting there her ticket.

Dipper sighed quietly as he handed his ticket before he walked inside.

The gym was completely decorated for the dance with balloons streaming everywhere. Kids were already filling the entire gymnasium as they began mingling with each other.

"The gym looks nice, doesn't it?" Lucy asked as she looked around.

"It's okay..." Was all the boy could say quietly.

Meanwhile in the darkened corner of the gym, Frankie and his two goons were staring into Dipper's direction as they watched enter the gym.

"Well it looks like Little Dipper showed up after all. Now everything can proceed as planned." Frankie laughed.

"But when are we going to spring the trap?" Violet asked as she looked above the catwalk.

"Don't worry, we're going to do it, but we'll have to wait until the time is right. Until then, we'll have to act as if everything is normal."

The goons nodded as they to join the rest of the kids.

"ALL RIGHT PARTY PEOPLE! ARE YOU ALL READY TO HAVE FUN TONIGHT?!" The dj asked the crowd.

The young teens all cheered with delight.

"THEN LET'S GET THIS EVENING STARTED!"

An hour had passed by as everyone in the gym was out on the dance floor dancing the evening away. Well almost everyone... Dipper was sitting at one of the tables by himself as drank some punch. A part of him was hoping that he didn't have to get up from his chair until the dance was over. From the way he saw it, as long as he sat in that chair nothing bad had happened to him. If he continued sitting, he could get through the evening unscathed.

However fate had other plans when Lucy walked over to him.

"Why are you sitting by yourself?" She asked, concerned.

"I just don't feel like dancing is all." Was all he could say.

"But I think they're about to play a slow song; and it looks like some of the guys are fighting to see who gets to dance with Mabel." Lucy explained as she pointed towards three boys screaming about who was going to be the lucky one.

Dipper couldn't help but laugh; his sister really did have her hands feel this time.

"I wonder who she's going to pick." He asked.

"I don't know... But it will be interesting to see who she does pick."

Suddenly with sounds of the song, Champagne Supernova began to play through the speakers.

"How about we slow things down for a bit?" The DJ said as the kids began to pair off.

Lucy held her hand out.

"Would you like to dance with me?" She asked.

Dipper looked at her hand before he smiled shyly.

"Why not..." He said as he allowed her to lead them to the dance floor.

The Pine boy carefully placed his hands on her waist as the two of them began to slowly sway back and forth.

Dipper couldn't help but smile. This was his very first slow dance with a girl. He remembered when attempted to ask Wendy to dance when Stan had decided to throw that party at the Mystery shack; but he remembered how he kept getting in his own way when he made an elaborated checklist that would ensure him his success. Only that had spiraled more and more out of control when Dipper had decided to clone himself. Only the clones added more complications to the plan and then turning on Dipper himself. Even after everything however Wendy had ultimately spent the evening hanging out with Robbie instead; but Dipper and his lead clone Tyrone had come to an understanding about being themselves.

"I guess you really did help me, Tyrone." The boy smiled as he looked up towards the ceiling.

"You're really a good dancer, Dipper..." Lucy said, blushing.

"Thanks..." Dipper said, blushing as well.

"Speaking of which, look over at Mabel..."

The two turned towards Mabel to see that she was slow dancing with all three of the boys that had been fighting over her. The boys glared as the each tried to shove the others off.

"I said all three of you could dance with me if you couldn't decide on one, so behave yourselves and keep your hands to yourself!" The girl said, firmly.

The boys sighed as they continued the dance.

"That's definitely new..." Dipper said, staring at the antics of Mabel slow dancing with three boys at the same time.

"Hey Dipper?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm having a really nice time with you." She said, shyly.

"So am I..." He said, smiling.

"And... Maybe... If it's all right with you... Maybe we can do it again sometime..."

Dipper felt a small smile tug his face.

"I'd like that..." He said, now his voice just as shy.

Frankie and Violet were dancing together a short distance as they both rolled their eyes.

Finally the song ended.

The two parted.

"I see the you're having a good time." A voice came behind them.

Dipper turned to see Ms. Finn standing there a smile on her face.

"I guess I am..." He said, smiling sheepishly.

Dipper looked around the gym.

"And Frankie and his friends haven't bothered once."

Ms. Finn smiled but then frowned.

"I have a feeling it's only because I've been keeping a close eye on them all evening; but at least it's been quiet." She sighed.

"All right everyone it's time for our big dance off! Whoever has the best dance moves by the end of the song will receive certificate for months worth of free laser tag."

All of the kids cheered.

Dipper grinned, he hadn't played laser tag since the summer.

But he never realized he was standing right below the trap that was set for him, but Frankie and his goons knew.

"My friends it's time!" He laughed.

The walked off towards the platform before Frankie gained hold of the rope.

"I'll stand here while you two go back there and make sure that nobody sees me. Once the song is over... Surprise!"

The two grinned evilly as they walked back out to dance floor.

"Now let's start the dance the off!" The song began to play.

All of the kids on cue began to dance to the beat of the song.

Mabel had really taken off as she began to play air guitar and spin around in dizzying circles.

Some of the other kids began break dancing on the floor shaking their bodies around widely.

Dipper however seemed to just wave his arms around to the music, not much for getting crazy like some of the others.

Lucy noticed this and laughed.

"Come on Dipper, you're not going to win the prize if you dance like that."

"YEAH BRO BRO! YOU HAVE TO DANCE LIKE ME!" Mabel cried as grabbed her brother and began to have him to the monkey.

Dipper was about to his sister antics, but he suddenly found himself relaxing as he began to follow her lead; and pretty soon he was found himself doing the moonwalk on his own.

The kids around him were cheering him on as he continued.

He actually found himself having fun.

"Looks like we have a wide one over here!" The DJ laughed as he pointed towards Dipper.

"Give the wild the one some room!" Violet cried, making sure that only Dipper would get his 'surprise'.

The kids backed up slightly.

Frankie watched the scene, the rope ready to be pulled in his hands.

The kids unaware of the plan continued to cheer for Dipper as the boy began to go full wild and began breakdancing on the floor.

""GO BRO BRO!" Mabel cried.

"COME ON DIPPER!" Lucy cheered.

The kids around cheered for more.

The Pine boy for once felt he actually was doing something right.

Ms. Finn was watching the dance off near the back, but she felt her eyes trailing towards the corner near the ascending platform. She swore she thought she saw a rope that seemed very out of place.

She couldn't make out anything at the bottom as there were a swarm of kids dancing everywhere she had to get a better look.

When got a closer however she saw Frankie holding something in his hands. That's she noticed that wide space between Dipper and the others.

Her eyes widened in horror as she put it all together.

Dipper was unaware as he made began his big finish.

Ms. Finn ran towards Frankie.

But it was too little too late.

As soon as the song had ended.

Frankie had pulled the rope.

And before anyone could process what happened, the horrible bodily concoction had poured all over the entire boy's body.

The entire gym was silent at what had happened.

Ms. Finn was horrified by the display; the warning signs had been there the entire time and she had failed to notice it.

Mabel and Lucy looked at each other in horror, angry and saddened that someone had done something so cruel.

All of the kids and adults just stood there not knowing how to react.

Then there was Dipper; his entire body was shaking. Tears were streaming down his face as he could feel the horrible stench on him. He should have know better, he should've known that Frankie and his friends would humiliate him.

How could he have been so blind.

That's when he heard the sound of laughing.

He looked over to see that Violet was standing there laughing cruelly.

"YOU LOOK LIKE A GIANT TURD!" She roared.

And it wasn't very long until the entire gymnasium had erupted into laughter.

Kids and adults laughed and pointed; whether it was because they thought the display was indeed funny, or if they really didn't know how to react to this.

Only Mabel, Lucy, and Ms. Finn weren't laughing.

Dipper covered his ears to block it all out, but it felt like the laughter was becoming louder and louder until it rang in his ears. His head started hurting as he felt his body becoming light than air.

He wanted it all to stop. He wanted the torment to end.

He screamed as he closed his eyes, when he then felt himself falling over.

But he did not feel impact or a thud.

He opened his eyes to find himself laying on the floor.

He tried to rub his eyes when he felt his hands go right throw his head.

"What the...?" He cried.

He looked down to see that his body was transparent; and when he turned his head he could see that his body was still standing.

"Wait... If I'm a ghost... Then that means..." He gasped in horror. "OH NO!"

The crowd continued laughing as a pair ominous eyes shot open...


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Dipper could only stare into those horrifying eyes to realize what the demon was planning to do to all of his tormenters.

Horror and agony had quickly consumed him; the demon had been planning this the entire time.

Bipper slowly rose his head before the sound of doors slamming and locking began to echo all around the room.

The laughter quickly died down by the sudden new noises as they continued to stare at who they thought was Dipper.

"You humans are all so interesting, you're all so miserable in your own little pathetic lives; and yet you still like to bring pain and misery to others!" The demon seemed to bellow.

The crowd just stared in confusion.

That's when they noticed the boy seemed to glow a yellow aura.

"But today will be my day! Today I will make all your blood spill!" The demon laughed, manically.

The crowd looked on now feeling rather horrified. Some people to tried to run out of the gym when they noticed that Bipper had locked all the doors, trapping them all inside.

"THE BASTARDS TRAPPED US INSIDE!" Someone screamed.

Bipper grinned wider than humanly possible.

"And now you shall all take your place in hell!" He screamed.

Within an instant, Bipper's eyes seemed to glow a dark yellow as the sound of electrical wires began ripping all round the gym and scattering on to the floor.

The kids tried in vain to get out of the way, but a good number of them would unfortunately come into contact with the lose wires, electrocuting the poor souls to death.

Anyone who managed to avoid the wires attack could only watch as the now lose wires wriggled and writhed on the ground; taking out anything that came into contact with it's course. The numerous coats and other clothing on the table chair didn't help matters as when they were caught in the wires the immediately began to burst into flames; causing smoke to slowly engulf the crowded. At one point the smoke became so bad that several students began suffocating as a result from the lack of air.

But it really seemed to take a sinister turn when the sprinklers started to kick on.

Bipper noticed the water begin to trickle down from the ceilings. He smiled. Perhaps he needed to apply a little more pressure to the sprinklers.

His eyes began to flash again as the intensity of the sprinklers had increased to much more dangerous levels.

Water gushed down on the unfortunate souls all around as the people who attempted to flee felt pounding watering rain on them; and to make matters worse the wires were still active all around. Causing to even step on a wire, to shock up almost immediately.

Mabel, Lucy and Ms. Finn had barely managed to hide under the bleachers as the attack continued.

"WHY IS HE DOING THIS!?" Ms. Finn demanded.

"WHY IS HE TRYING TO KILL US ALL?!" Lucy sobbed.

Mabel tried to think for a second when it all clicked together.

"OH MY FUCKING GOD!" She screamed in horror.

Back on the floor Bipper noticed Violet was attempting to hide under the bleachers away from the attack.

Grinning he raised the intensity of one of the sprinklers that would make it seem like you would be underwater.

The intense wave of water poured onto the girl's body, knocking her to the ground. She made a feeble attempt to flee from the blast, but the intensity had only left her immobile to the sinister waters that were intending to claim her as it's victim. Her struggle would only become weaker and weaker as she slowly ran out of oxygen until finally, she lay on the floor, lifeless.

Bipper turned his head to see that Frankie was trying to escape by climbing out the window. Smiling, his eyes began to glow again as he used his mind to shatter a nearby wooden table, creating a dozens of sharp splinters of wood. Then with careful aim, he mentally rammed the hazardous wood into the boy's throat. Frankie was dead before he even hit the ground.

The dream looked all around the gym to see the numerous bodies dropping one by one. The whole feeling brought him so much delight to see all of the unfortunate souls around him crying and bleeding to death. He wanted more; he wanted blood to drip all along the walls, he wanted everything to burn.

Dipper on the other hand, was watching the entire scene take place; and the boy was horrified. The demon had been playing with him the entire time. The demon had successfully bended the boy in the direction he wanted; and now he was paying the price. How could he been so blind?

But on the other hand, the demon was still the only person ever truly had; and no matter what the outcome would be of this, he still needed the demon. He didn't want to be left alone. Because all of this ended, he wasn't going to have anyone on the outside.

Still Dipper flew over to the dream and tried in vain to cry out.

"BILL PLEASE STOP IT!" He cried. "PLEASE STOP HURTING THEM!"

Bipper looked over at the ghost before laughing cruelly.

"This is your own doing, Pine Tree. You let this happen; and now you must reap what have sowed!"

"I NEVER WANTED THIS! I ONLY WANTED SOMEONE TO PROTECT AND CARE ABOUT ME!" The boy sobbed.

"Are you saying that you want me to leave you too?" The demon asked in a playful tone.

Dipper was about to retort when he felt his lower. He didn't want the demon to leave him. Even now he still wanted his father figure, no matter how badly he had used him.

The demon knew this as well.

He looked up towards the catwalk as he saw all of the gleaming metal. With a wave of his hand, he split all of the metal into sharp metal jags.

He then fired all of the jagged pieces around the room. Almost all of them had made their marks. Getting between eyes, throats, chests and other vital places.

One kid was pinned to the wall right by the opening to the bleachers, forcing Mabel, Lucy, and Ms. Finn to stare into the kid's lifeless bloody body.

Ms. Finn ran out to check the kid's pulse; but she would never see the never see the attack coming. She would never see Bipper mentally grab the large speaker and chuck it at full force towards her head. She would never feel any pain since the attack killed her instantly.

"MS. FINN!" Dipper sobbed. The only teacher that showed concern for him was dead.

Mabel felt tears run down her cheeks. How could she have been so blind? How could she have allowed Bill to manipulate her brother?

She ran out from under the bleachers. Blood had stained her white dress, but the girl didn't care. She ran towards her possessed brother, holding him tightly.

"Please Bill... Please give me back my brother! Please stop this!" The girl sobbed.

Bipper looked behind him to see the shattered before he threw her to the ground.

Mabel looked at him with blurry eyes. The demon let out a laugh.

"Naïve little girl! There's nothing more you can do to save your brother; or to stop me! You're far too late, Shooting Star! You failed to see the signs when they were present; and now you and Pine Tree must face the consequences!"

"Then at least give Dipper back his body! Just let my brother go! You can take control of me all you want, just let Dipper go!"

The demon looked around the bloody death chamber of a gym before grinning menacingly.

"That won't be necessary anymore, Shooting Star..." He laughed.

Mabel was about to question him when Bipper fell to the ground. The smile on his face changed to heart wrenching tears as Dipper was back in his body, violently shaking from the trauma.

Mabel crawled over to her brother and gently cradled him in her arms.

"Mabel..." He sobbed.

"It's okay bro bro... I'm right here..." She sobbed back.

The all too familiar laugh rang around them.

The sobbing twins looked up to see Bill standing just above them. Only they were not in the dreamscape, they were wide awake.

"But...but... How...?! How are you outside of the dreamscape?!" Mabel demanded, her eyes widened in horror.

Bill grinned evilly as his eye glowed in the darkness.

"Oops... I forget to mention that if a demon could possess enough souls, then they gain the ability to walk in the real world."

Mabel gasped.

"So that means..."

"That's right, Shooting Star! I can now come and go between her and the dreamscape whenever I desire!" The demon laughed at her horrified expression.

"Bill... Why...? Dipper asked from his place in his sister's arms.

Bill turned towards him.

"Why what?" He asked in mock surprise.

"Why did you do all of this? I thought..."

The demon laughed before he waved his hand to pull Dipper away from his sister and just a few inches away from him.

"My precious little Pine Tree, of course I care about you. You're like the son I never had." The smile on his face twisted into a more demented one. "But regardless I still had to punish you. You had to face your retribution."

"Retribution for what?!" Mabel demanded.

"For getting in my way, of course. I was so close with all of my plans; but you two had to come along and set me back again, and that simply can't go by me."

Dipper looked down at his bloody hands, horror and shame were plaguing his mind.

He cringed as he felt the demon beginning to dry his tears.

"But now that I feel that I've taught you a lesson; are you going to be a good boy from now on?" The demon purred.

Dipper gripped the demon's coat tightly as he sobbed.

"Yes... I promise to be... good... Don't leave me!" He begged.

The demon smiled triumphantly as he gently held the boy in his arms for a few moments before letting him go.

He looked at him a little more before turning back to Mabel. Smiling sinisterly.

"You're retribution will be upon as well, Shooting Star! It will upon you sometime in the future!"

"What do you mean?!" She demanded. "WHEN?!

Bill looked over to see Frankie's other goon trying to sneak off. He made a notion with his hand before the sound of a snapping neck echoed in there ears.

"Someday very soon..." He smiled. "BUT UNTIL THEN I'LL BE WATCHING YOU!"

He tipped his hat as he began to fade away, laughing one last time.

"I'LL BE WATCHING... YOU!" The demon was gone.

Mabel was about to run to her brother when she heard voice cry his name.

"DIPPER?!" It said in a horrified gruff voice.

The twins looked towards the door to see and exhausted Stan standing in the doorway. He looked at his great nephew as if he didn't knew who he was anymore.

Dipper felt his body shaking at the look. He could feel the eyes of the remaining survivors all staring in horror at him. Nothing would ever be same.

He knew this when he could hear the sound of sirens drawing near.

"Dipper Pines...! What have you done?!" The old man cried. Although he refused to admit, he already knew.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Mabel sat outside on the bench as she watched as her brother was being led outside of the blood drenched gym in a straight jacket.

Cops and sobbing parents were outside talking and screaming as they all were being told of the about the horrific events that had unfolded in the gym that night.

The surviving students and adults were recalling their versions of what had happened that evening; but one thing remained the same, there was no mention of Bill.

To all of them, it seemed like the dream demon didn't even exist; and when he had had just randomly appeared before all of them after leaving Dipper's body, apparently didn't happen in their eyes. It was like they believed that the Pine boy had just lost his mind and killed everyone with his own bare hands. Mabel would have laughed at the irony, but the fact that Bill had used her brother to cause horrible bloodbath just to get his revenge on them, just upset her even more than he already was.

She then turned her head towards Lucy to see that the girl was crying in her mother's arms. The poor girl had been so nice to her brother and it actually seemed like a relationship might transpired between. Now she was completely traumatized from the whole situation; and the girl knew there was a strong possibility that two of them probably weren't going to be friends anymore either.

Mabel shook her head roughly as she turned back towards Dipper. His eyes were glassy and completely empty of anything.

She chocked back a sob.

She had let this happen. The signs were all there. Dipper's withdrawing from the world around him. His lack of sleeping and eating; and the fact that he wouldn't talk to her anymore. It all made sense, and she completely blew it. She completely abandoned her brother and very best friend when he needed her the most.

She started running towards him when an orderly stopped her.

"Young lady, I'm sorry, but you have to stay back." She said in a firm but gentle voice.

"But he's my brother! Please let me talk to him! I don't know if I'll ever see him again!" She said trying to keep her shaky voice calm.

The orderly smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry... But your brother is too dangerous. You need to stay back. It's for your own safety."

Mabel felt a sob escape her throat as saw her brother being loaded into the back of the large white van taking van. Taking him only God knew where.

The girl panicked and tried rushing towards the van. She wanted to say goodbye... She wanted to say... she was sorry...

"DIPPER?!" She sobbed. "DIPPER?!"

"MABEL!" Stan yelled from behind.

Mabel ignored him as she kept running toward the van before two more orderly's grabbed her.

"YOU NEED TO STAY BACK! I'M SORRY IT'S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!" They ordered.

"NO! DIPPER!" She kept crying for her brother.

From the behind the van window, Mabel could see Dipper poke his head up towards her.

"BRO BRO... I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY!" She sobbed.

Dipper looked at her through his tear stained glassy as he smiled sadly mouthing the words.

"I know..."

Mabel sank to her knees at his response. There wasn't anything left to say.

Stan ran to her, helping her to her feet.

"Mabel don't fight them anymore. It's over..." He begged.

"But..." She sobbed.

"I know honey... I know..." He said, trying not to cry.

The sound of the van's engine began to start up. Mabel felt herself starting to run again, but as she was about to reach the van, the vehicle began speeding away. Her brother's figure slowly fading away.

Mabel tried to chase after the van for as long she could, continuing to cry out Dipper's name; but she could only could keep up with van for so long before it was completely out of site.

"Dipper... Goodbye bro bro..." She whispered, heartbroken.

Mabel walked backed to the bench before sitting down.

Her life would no longer be the same; she would never be the same. Her other half was gone; and only a void of emptiness remained.

She looked up slightly to see Stan sit down next to her.

"It wasn't your fault, honey... There wasn't anything you could do." The old man said, trying to comfort her.

"It was my fault, Grunkle Stan! I completely abandoned Dipper when he needed me the most! The day at the gym was the day where it all began to change! All the signs were there; and I chose to ignore them! And now Dipper is gone!" The girl cried in a shaky voice.

Tears slowly started to fall down Stan's face.

"No... Sweetie... Don't blame yourself... I... I should've known something was wrong the minute Dipper called me that one day..."

Mabel looked at him.

"Dipper called you?"

"Yeah... He did... He wanted to come live with me full time. Your parents would have never allowed that. But I didn't realize until a few days ago that Dipper may have been in trouble... If only I got here sooner... If only I could've protected him... None of this would've have happened... YOU FUCKING MONSTER! DID YOU HAVE TO TAKE DIPPER TOO?!" Stan was now crying.

"Grunkle Stan...? Mabel sobbed.

"What it is it sweetie?" He asked, swallowing back a sob of his own.

Mabel wanted to tell him that Bill was planning retribution against her as well, but she couldn't say anything. Nothing at all.

The only thing she could do was bury her face into Stan's chest.

Stan responded by holding her tightly in his arms. Both crying for Dipper.

What had they done?


	20. Chapter 20

Epilogue

Mabel Pines walked into the room that once belonged to her twin brother, Dipper.

Everything had been cleaned out that once belonged to the boy.

It had been about three months since the incident at the school dance, but to Mabel it felt like had only just happened yesterday.

The last that Mabel had heard about what happened to her brother was when she heard her parents talking to Dr. Harkin about was going to happen to him.

According to the doctor, Dipper was being transferred to a hospital in the middle of some desert in Arizona; where the boy would be given special treatment where he wouldn't hurt anybody or himself ever again.

After the incident, the twins father had ordered everything to be removed from Dipper's room. Everything that was in there was either thrown away or put into storage to never see the light of day again. Once the room was emptied, you would've thought that Dipper never existed at all.

The room was going to be rented out soon. Apparently Charlie had taken a graduate student under his wing had allowed the student to come and live with them while going for his Masters and getting his fought into the company. Charlie barely talked about Dipper after the incident. It was almost like he had completely given up on the boy a long time ago and had known this was coming. Sometimes Mabel was horrified to think that she sometimes believed that he father was relieved that her brother was gone.

While Mary tried to act like everything was fine, she cried almost everyday. Mabel was always wondering if her mother was crying because she felt guilty of failing her son when he needed her. Or if she was crying because her image of a perfect family had been destroyed. Although the girl prayed that her mother was crying from guilt and not from vanity.

Mabel was forbidden to have any contact with Stan after her mother had been granted a protective ordered against the old man. Mabel tried her best to get through the loopholes as she would try find out about Stan through Soos or Wendy. But because Soos was living in Portland now and Wendy only worked at the Mystery Shack on the weekends, hearing from them or about her great uncle only came at random.

The girl still talked to Candy and Grenda every now and then, but since they had their own lives back in Gravity Falls, she only heard from them every so often.

Because of this, she didn't really have anybody left.

She walked over to the now sheet less bed, looking around. Soon her brother's bedroom would belong to a complete stranger.

She stopped when she noticed something under the bed. She got down her knees and pulled out Dipper's blue and white hat. The same hat that he had taken from the gift shop when they first started their vacation in Gravity Falls. Back when things were simple. Back when things weren't void of color.

Mabel gingerly held the hat in her hands before she curled herself on top of the bed.

Tears were falling from face. She tried her best to live her life like she always did, but even then, the hole that Dipper had left in her heart always left a stain of grey in her world of vivid colors. Bill had to torment and manipulate her brother for his own amusement; and because the demon had gotten his way, Mabel's life had completely changed. No matter how much she tried to mimic her normal routine.

Clutching the hat to her chest, the young girl silently cried for her brother and best friend.

Meanwhile hiding deep within shadows, a certain dream demon was watching the heartbroken girl. A sinister smile was pressed upon his lips.

"Enjoy yourself while you can, Shooting Star. Because one day... You will be mine..."

A silent laugh echoed the abandoned bedroom before Bill vanished from the shadows to leave the girl to cry alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end of Part 1 of the Alone Trilogy. Stay Tuned for part 2


End file.
